The Three Doctors
by mrhonda1987
Summary: The Eleventh Doctor is drawn to a small town in the Cotswolds, home of a tiny girl called Serenity. Unsure of her own past, Serenity is a mystery the Doctor is determined to help solve. Little does he know that her power is so vast, the Ninth and Tenth Doctors were also drawn to her. Nine, Ten and Eleven unite to discover the mystery of wee Serenity.
1. Chapter 1

Tweed Jacket, Bowtie and a Stetson

The Eleventh Doctor Chapter 1

The Cloister Bell clanged loudly through the normally calm air. The large iron bell, high aloft in upper recesses of a TARDIS, was the harbinger of trouble for Time Lord Capsules. When the Cloister Bell sounded, things were either going, or about to go, very wrong. The echoes from it filled the whole of the TARDIS, reverberating into every bedroom, the swimming pool, the study and lastly the control room. The loud clonks meshed lovely with the screechy sounds of the Time Rotor. It was a shame then that the Doctor was too occupied to notice the pleasant noises.

"What now!" he shouted at the console. He looked over the screeching Time Rotor, at the typewriter for course plotting, and then at the atom accelerator. He could find no reason for why the Cloister Bell was going wrong. The TARDIS was flying as straight and true as he could make it, which, needless to say wasn't very straight at all. Sparks fizzled into the air and the whole thing shook about; it was business as usual. "Ohhh… I really miss you being able to talk to me," he confessed to the old capsule.

He left the elevated console, running down the small staircase to the masses of wires underneath. All the connections he'd made recently had held and nothing was out of the ordinary. He plugged and unplugged them, waiting for the bell to stop. Nothing worked. Meanwhile, topside at the console, the space time visualizer, which despite its futuristic name actually looked more like a telly from the 50's lashed to the Time Rotor, showed the destination. The wondrous old Police Box was taking the last of the Time Lords to a small town in the Cotswolds.

The Doctor's head popped up from the belly of the TARDIS; the Time Rotor had stopped. The Cloister Bell kept sounding, but the Rotor had gone silent. "So, where've you brought me this time?" he asked it, going back up the tiny spiral stairs to the Console. One lone spark shot from it as he approached the space time visualizer. He swung the Time Rotor mounted telly around, fiddling with one of the golden knobs on the side to get better reception of what was outside. The sight was something the Doctor didn't expect.

"Really?" he asked it, "I think you've flipped," he told the Box. His brow furrowed as he looked at the old church, green grass and blue skies on the visualizer. "This isn't Roboolore; where are the flaming clowns and dancing Manbearpigs?" he asked, looking at the Time Rotor disgustedly. It didn't answer him. "Instead of the Andromeda galaxy's greatest cotton candy, I get some quiet little town in who knows where…" The visualizer automatically resized the image, as if the TARDIS itself wanted the Doctor to know where he was. "Ah, Northleach," he said, reading from the town's sign, "You've brought me to the Cotswolds…"he surmised.

The Cloister Bell continued ringing loudly. It filled every chasm of the massive old capsule. "And something must be wrong, otherwise that horrible bell would stop!" the Time Lord angrily shouted, growing tired of the Cloister Bell. He breathed a deep sigh and collapsed, leaning over on the console. "I know it's not your fault," he confessed, still talking to the TARDIS, "You've always taken me where I needed to go. I suppose it's all this Silence business… leaving Amy and Rory behind… witnessing my own funeral… marriage…" he added, recalling the past year.

He shot upwards, suddenly not minding any of his troubles. "But if that bell is still ringing, that means that something has or is going to go wrong. And that's why you've brought me here," he realized with a smirk. Appreciatively, he looked up at the Time Rotor. "Oh, you sexy thing…" he greeted the old box with a smile. "Well, as I used to say… allons-y." Rejuvenated, the Doctor sprang down the steps to the doors, stopping only momentarily at the coat tree to put on his Stetson.

The old blue doors creaked inward, despite the signage urging the user to open the doors outward. He stepped out, pulling the door closed behind him. The TARDIS had dematerialized next to a pub, the Red Lion Inn. He was downtown and not too far away from the butcher's, bakers and the candlestick maker's. "Oh how fun," he commented, noting the rhyming shops as he started off down the street.

The Doctor was a sight the locals were unaccustomed to. Old ladies with big hats on who had gathered for afternoon tea at a small outdoor café could hardly believe their eyes as the Doctor walked past, checking the buildings in the town. Here was a man, unknown in their small town, wearing a tweed jacket, bowtie and a Stetson. He looked like some sort of cowboy English teacher and was so skinny, that he could have easily been anorexic. "Good afternoon ladies," the Doctor spoke, tipping his hat to them as he went past. The old women were dumbstruck as the Doctor's soft, old eyes smiled at them.

The Time Lord continued down the street, unsure of why the TARDIS had brought him here. It looked to him to be a lovely, peaceful community. Birds sang in fantastic old trees and puffy clouds dotted the sky. He ducked into the Mechanical Music museum, seeing the amazing old self-playing violins, great music boxes and modern looking gramophones. There was nothing amiss here.

He carried on down the street, this time stopping off at the Church of St Peter and St Paul. Zombies and the undead weren't rising from the graves in the cemetery, no demons were terrorizing the citizenry and no gargoyles flapped their bat-wings high above in the belfry. In fact, the only thing that looked out of place here was one rather sad looking nun who had the task of vacuuming the large carpet laid on the floor of the Church's nave all by herself.

The Doctor returned to the main road, no closer to an explanation of why the TARDIS had delivered him here than when he began. A quick peek into the butcher's, bakers and candlestick maker's showed nothing amiss in the land of rhyming shops. He let out an exasperated sigh. "I could be seeing dancing Manbearpigs right now," he commented to no one in particular. Only one more building now lay before him: the Northleach Church of England Primary School. Classes had dismissed for the day as it was well past five in the afternoon now. Unexpectedly, the front door to the school opened and one lonely girl came out.

The Doctor watched her as she exited. She made a point to kick a stone setting peacefully on the path. It'd been sometime since he played child psychologist, but he could clearly see that the child, who was no older than ten, was bothered. The thought occurred to him that maybe this small girl was the reason he was here. The last time that something similar happened, his TARDIS crashed out of control, right into the garden shed of a young Amelia Pond.

That was just after his latest regeneration. Little Amelia too was a bothered young girl; she lived with a crack in the fabric of the universe in her bedroom wall. Doing the only thing she could, she prayed to Santa Claus to send a policeman to handle the crack in her wall when suddenly the old Police Box crashed into her shed.

After treating the strange skinny man who had appeared from the box to an apple, yogurt, beans, bacon, bread and butter, all of which he hated, and then finally to some fish fingers and custard, which he loved, little Amelia convinced the Doctor to help seal the crack in her bedroom wall. But fixing the crack would have to wait; the resetting TARDIS, which was damaged by the Doctor's violent regeneration sounded the Cloister Bell, and the Doctor knew he had leave temporarily to run in the old Box so that the engines wouldn't burnout the rest of the TARDIS.

Young Amelia asked the raggedy Doctor, who was still in the tattered suit of his Tenth self, if she could come with him in the strange box that smashed into her shed. The Doctor agreed, provided he could have a short run to the moon to settle the TARDIS. As excited as a young girl would be, Little Amelia went and filled a suitcase as the TARDIS screeched off to the moon.

Amelia packed a suitcase, put on her Wellies and hat then returned to the garden to wait for the Doctor to return. Amelia waited and waited. And she grew up, becoming Amy and going through a legion of psychologists, all of them trying to tell her that her raggedy Doctor was imaginary. After quite a long time, Amy started to believe them, and tried to forget the raggedy Doctor.

Eventually the Doctor did return, but as was the case with time travel, it took 12 years from Amy's perspective. After saving Earth from an alien race called the Atraxi and an escaped Prisoner Zero who came through the crack in Amy's wall, the Doctor extended an offer to go with him traveling in the old Box to the now older Pond. Acting as the excited as she would have been when she was younger, Amy accepted. Over the course of their journeys, the two of them became best friends. Up to the moment she stepped into the Blue Box, Amy's entire life thus far had been spent waiting for the Doctor. "Well, I'd best not keep this one waiting as well," he told himself, missing Amy and her husband Rory but looking forward to meeting the small girl.

The Doctor started across the street, going to the girl. He came up behind her, flipping the Stetson from his head and pressing it onto the girl's dark hair. Instinctively, she let out a blood curdling scream. The Doctor grimaced, realizing his error and removed the hat. "Ah! Stop, stop, stop," he urged. "Shh," he told her, covering his mouth with one finger. The girl complied, stopping her screams. The Doctor looked at her with a blank face. He pressed the Stetson back onto his own brow. "That's better… sorry," he apologized.

The girl looked up at the weird cowboy English teacher. "What'd you do that for?" she asked.

"I thought it'd be a good ice breaker; a nonthreatening way to introduce myself," the Doctor told her.

"Ice breaker? Do you make a habit of trying to scare young people?" she asked. She started back down the street.

The Doctor followed a few steps behind. "Oh, young people… you're all young people. Moses and Abraham was a spry kids compared to me," the 909 year old Time Lord confessed, looking at the old Church and School. "I even told Moses more people would take him seriously if he would have shaved that beard off... all that ugly face hair… sign of the times I guess."

The girl stopped and turned to face him again. She peered into him with deep brown eyes. "Like Moses from the Bible? The one who led the Jews from Egypt and carried the Ten Commandments down Mount Horeb?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. The Doctor nodded once in agreement. The tiny girl let a moment pass. "Are you strange?"

"I'm very strange," he told her, not even hesitating. "Hello, I'm the Doctor." He introduced himself with a nonthreatening smile.

"What's with the hat?" she asked, wondering why the skinny Doctor would be wearing a cowboy hat.

He took it off, looking at the loops around the brow. "My friend Craig gave me this. I wear a Stetson; Stetson's are cool," he told her.

She gave him a once over, noting the mad man before her. He was tall and skinny with pants too short, a dreadful bowtie and headwear that belonged in the OK Corral. "Hello Doctor. I'm Serenity. Do ya wanna go for some chips?" she innocently asked.

"Hello Serenity," he greeted, "And I'd love to go for chips." He extended a hand, like he'd done with so many before, offering it to young Serenity. She took it and started to lead him down the path. "So, I noticed you looked bothered? Everything okay?" he asked, keen on not making her wait.

Serenity kept going down the street, past the church and back to the pub. "Just a bad day," she told him. Her mood changed from one of curiosity about this mad Doctor to sadness at her present situation.

"Everyone has bad days," the Doctor told her, "I've had enough bad days for ten people." He pushed the Red Lion's door open, letting his small friend inside. She shook free from his hand and went to a booth set against the wall. He joined her under a Newcastle Ale sign and some old football shirts. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her, taking off his Stetson and setting it on the table.

She glanced over to the bar. "Hey Murray, two orders of chips and two sodas," she called out, getting the barman's attention. The order was acknowledged with a wave back in her direction. She turned back to the Doctor. "I'd like to talk about it," she admitted, "But I have no idea where to start. I don't remember any of it."

"Remember any of what?" the Doctor prodded.

"Exactly," she spoke, "I don't know. The counselor at school and I've been talking, but he gets impatient. He's a rubbish counselor. I think he got his degree from a box of cereal or something…" The girl disappeared into her own mind, trying desperately to dredge up the past.

"Why do you say that?" the Doctor asked, curious. There was no doubt now that this tiny child was the reason he was delivered to Northleach instead of Roboolore.

She looked at him, hopeful that he could help her. "Well, I get the feeling that what happened was huge, like gigantic, but I can't remember any of it," she told him. Murray the barman delivered two fizzy brown sodas to the table. "Thanks Murray," she spoke.

"Chips will be ready in a minute," he told them, giving the Doctor the stink eye before heading back to the bar.

Serenity stared down into the dancing bubbles of her fizzy beverage. "I should be able to remember. I wake up every day with a huge feeling of loss in my heart. I'm sad all the time… and I don't know why. That's the worst part, the not knowing." She looked up from the bubbly soda. "Can you help me, Doctor?"

The old Time Lord cracked a soft smile. "Of course I can help. I'm the Doctor," he told her. "Why don't you tell me what you do remember?" he asked, leaning down and onto the table, peering at her.

Serenity met his gaze. "Not much," she admitted. "Specific stuff just doesn't register. That's why I wish the school counselors were better; I think that if they could help me remember, I'd feel better. Maybe worse, I don't know… but the counselors don't work." Her gaze wandered out into the pub, first to the jukebox then over to the bar.

"Nothing specific then?" he asked.

"Chips," she spoke.

"You remember chips?" he quizzically asked.

"No. The chips are ready. At the bar," she told him. The Doctor realized his error, and then looked in the direction of Murray. "Here's a fiver, go and get them," she instructed, giving him a five quid note from her pocket. He took it, then stood. "Do you like Elvis?" she asked, taking 50p from the same pocket and heading to the jukebox.

"I love Elvis," the Doctor told her, "I taught him how to play guitar." She stopped mid-journey and gave him another raised eyebrow. "Well, I did. Well, with his stubby fingers, he could never get the g chords… and the hip shaking, that was all him." She shook her head and walked away, moving to start _Hound Dog_ on the jukebox.

Murray the barman watched the Doctor as he took the fiver and set it on the bar. "I've never seen you here before? How'd you know Serenity?" he asked. It was typical in small towns for elder people to watch after the youngsters.

"I've actually just met her. I'm the Doctor," the Time Lord introduced himself.

"A doctor?" he asked, relieved, "Well, that's great. Just what Serenity needs, poor kid," Murray commented.

"What do you know about her?" the Doctor pried.

Murray shook his head; she was a truly sad case. "Poor girl… her parents were killed by this crazed teenager or something. Police couldn't catch him. They were pretty well off, so she doesn't have to worry about money or anything and they owned their house, and she's pretty stable I guess, but I mean that's got to be the worst thing ever, losing your family. I mean, I think she's been to about ten different psychologists…" his voice wandered, and both men looked at little Serenity sipping her soda. "She comes in here every day after her talk with the counselors, has some chips, puts on some Elvis and then goes home… I do hope you can help her."

"I do have some practice in that sort of thing," the Doctor told him, thinking of Amy. "My last case… well, she turned out to be my best friend really, she went through something very similar." Murray nodded in agreement, glad Serenity would finally get some help. "Of course, Amy's parents were erased from existence by the crack in the universe in her bedroom wall. But we made that all just dandy and not a moment before she was to wed Rory…" Murray scratched his head, not comprehending what the Doctor was babbling about. "Thank you Murray," the Doctor told him, giving him the fiver and departing for the booth.

The chip baskets slid across the darkly stained table, each one finding its place. Serenity didn't waste any time, and drizzled the fried potatoes with malted vinegar that was left on the table. "Murray says you do this every day," the Doctor spoke, sitting down. "Says you stop off and have some chips and an Elvis tune. What do you do after that?" he asked.

Serenity finished with the vinegar, then took a sip of her soda. "Well, after I'm done here, I walk home, watch telly, take a shower, clean house if I need to… normal stuff," she told him.

The Doctor also drizzled the vinegar on his chips. "That's not normal stuff, not for a ten year old girl anyway," he told her, salting his chips as well. "Your house is paid for and you've got money but you're not old enough to drive… you're the most adult ten-year-old I've ever met. Nothing about that bothers you?" he asked.

"Why would it?" she asked, digging back into her chips. "I've been like this for as long as I can remember. That's the thing about forgetting your past; you can't remember anything of how it was before." She dug back into the chips, as if afraid, but desperately wanting, to remember.

The Doctor gazed at her, watching as she chewed the golden fried potatoes. "But don't you have friends at school? Don't they talk about Facebook and Twitter and all that stuff? Don't you watch videos on YouTube of cats doing funny things or don't you ever go and play football or field hockey or anything like that? That's the sort of stuff that ten-year-old kids do," he insisted. "Don't you ever feel like not being an adult? I'm 909 and I'm the most kiddish person I know."

She thought about it for a moment. "I do like sailing," Serenity told him, thinking of a past time that fascinated her. "I have dreams about sailing sometimes. There's one dream I have that I'm on the Moon. I'm out in the lunar seas on a huge galleon. Silly I know, since there's no air for the sails or water for the boat to float on, but that's the dream. I have that dream a lot actually… do you reckon that means anything?" she asked, going for the straw in her fizzy drink.

An odd coincidence popped up in the Time Lord's mind. "It might," he told her. "Do you know anything about the Moon?"

"Not really," Serenity confessed. "I saw that there was a _MythBusters_ programme on telly about it once. They debunked all those idiots that said that America didn't go to the moon in the 60's."

"Oh, they went to the Moon all right," he told her, recalling his own recent adventure involving Apollo 11. "There is on the Moon, many oceans and seas. Not actual, full of water oceans, but flat, calm, dusty oceans. Back in the Renaissance when the first scientists looked up at the Moon with telescopes, they needed ways to make topography easy, so they gave everything a name similar to something on Earth; oceans, seas, mountains et cetera. Anyway, one particularly vast and flat sea, or Mare, from the Latin Maria, was called the Mare Serenitatis… the Sea of Serenity."

The girl's mouth dropped, floored thoroughly by the Doctor's revelation. "There's a lunar sea named after me?" she asked.

"Well, I think the sea was there before you were," he told her, "But yes, you share names with a lunar sea. Your second name isn't Maria is it?" he asked, leaning in. She shook her head no. He looked over her, silently evaluating her. "Should we go?"

"I haven't finished my chips," Serenity protested.

"Get a to-go bag," he urged, "This could be important." Serenity shrugged her shoulders then stood from the booth. She went to the bar and returned with a Styrofoam container. "Here, have mine too," he insisted, dumping his remaining chips into the box. "C'mon," he urged, extending his hand again, pressing his Stetson on and barely giving her enough time to close the lid on the box.

The unlikely duo exited the pub, turning left and going to the small alley next to the place. "I have a confession," the Doctor admitted, "I'm not exactly from social services." They stopped and he snapped his fingers quite loudly. The door of an old wooden Police Box creaked open. An orange hue beamed from the larger insides of the small Police Box. She drank in the blue color, and how perfect a shade of blue it was.

Little Serenity could hardly believe her eyes. A whole other world existed here. The ceilings inside were easily twenty feet from the ground, yet the outside of the box was only ten feet. The massive room looked like it could be the size of a roundabout set into the roads, but the exterior was a paltry four feet by four feet. Her jaw dropped, amazed at the size and complexity of the old Box. "It's… it's…"

"Bigger on the inside," the Doctor told her. "I know, I've heard them all." He went to the opened door, motioning her inside. "Come on in. Welcome to my TARDIS," he smiled. Little Serenity stepped forward, leaving the blue and green world of Northleach and stepping into the orange and golden hues of the only surviving Time Lord capsule in the universe. The Doctor followed, shutting the doors and hanging his Stetson on the rack. "Okay, question time," he spoke, going past her and up to the console, "What do you want to know?" He turned back, waiting the usual cavalcade of questions. His ears noticed something not happening. "Oh good, the Cloister Bell has stopped. So you must be the reason the TARDIS brought me here," he explained.

Serenity drank in the whole experience. The walls looked like they were gilded in copper and then had ship port holes set into it. The middle of it looked like a clear warp core, like something she'd seen on _Star Trek_ repeats; not the William Shatner ones but the newer Patrick Stewart ones. It was elevated, about six feet from the ground with stairs going a platform that ran around it. Masses of cables went from underneath the core to every part of the huge ship, acting like nerve fibers going from the spinal cord to all corners of the box. "TARDIS? What's that mean?" she asked, thinking she'd better ask a question and not look like a fool.

"It stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space," the Doctor informed. "That's why it's bigger on the inside." The Doctor reclined on the console and crossed his arms, giving a relaxed impression. "Ages ago my people were able to manipulate the trans-dimensional plane crossed by a person when they step through the doorway. The inside of the box really is four feet by four feet by eight, but by crossing different dimensions, we were able to create whole other worlds within incredibly small spaces."

The words didn't hold any meaning for her, despite being a perfectly accurate answer. Then, her mind took over, digesting every word and making perfect sense of it. Being caring however, only two words leapt at her. "Your people?" she asked, "You're an alien?"

The Doctor smiled in soft remembrance. "From your perspective, yes, I'm an alien. I'm from a race called the Time Lords. Our home was called Gallifrey. It was in the constellation of Kasrous, at galactic coordinates 10-0-11-0-0 by 0-2 from Galactic Zero Centre. Go past the Big Dipper about 500 light years, take a meandering left past Cancer, up a bit, then a sharp right and you'd smack right into it, you know, if it was still there." He dropped his head, remembering his dead world.

"Was?" Serenity asked, "You've got no home?" She let her guard down, not minding the fantastic world she was now in. She crossed from the door, up the stairs to the console, next to the Doctor.

"Not anymore," he grimly told her, not wanting to delve into the past.

"What happened?" she prodded.

He hesitated for a moment. The fall of Gallifrey and everything else wasn't a favorite topic of his. "A war... a great, big, nasty war," he answered. "A war that if I could have prevented, I would have in a heartbeat. But I did end it… it wasn't exactly my finest moment."

"You don't look like a soldier," Serenity told him.

He smiled, partly trying to hide the pain his past caused him. "You're absolutely right," the Doctor agreed. "I'm not a soldier; I never was. I was rubbish at it, mostly. I spent my life up to that point helping those who couldn't help themselves… all that was gone in an instant. There are parts of myself I absolutely hate… the blood on my hands… but that was a long time ago. I've come a long way since then; six companions and two regenerations…" he stepped back, thinking about the problem before him, "And besides, today isn't about me. It's about you… this dream of you sailing on the lunar seas…"

Serenity jumped up into one of the chairs that ran around the console. "I'm just out on the moon, on a big old galleon, like the Spanish Armada used, and I'm sailing along," she told him, reiterating what she'd told him in the pub.

Knowing full well the power of emotion, the Doctor decided to try a different tactic. "Okay, now Serenity, I want you to close your eyes for me," he told her. She complied. "Now, think of the dream. Put yourself on the ship on the Moon. How do you feel?"

Serenity did as instructed. She could taste the vacuum of space, but didn't worry about not breathing. She felt the lunar sands shifting under the bow of her ship as it sailed along. The biting cold nipped at her fingers and nose. Before her, there were only stars and gray dust as far as the eye could see. A feeling of dread accompanied her. "I feel… alone. There's no one here with me."

'_It's probably her unconscious coping with the death of her parents,'_ the Doctor thought. "Alone? There's nothing else?" he asked.

Serenity scanned around the empty ship. Behind her, off the stern of the ship, a wave quaked the unmoving lunar dust. She walked to the stern, going past empty cannon mounts and forgotten bulwarks, past the captain's quarters and up to the wheel. The Moon seemed to shake, and the dream became more vivid. She leaned over the side, watching the sand behind her intently. The chill of space slowly faded. The stings of cold passed, replaced by a slowing, gentle warmth. The silt began to glow, from eight shades of monochrome to a subtle red, then orange.

She backed away from the rearmost part of her galleon. The heat intensified, singeing the timbers and leaving a trail of gray smoke that hung in the incredibly thin atmosphere. Like a phoenix rising, a form shot out from the glowing red sands. It took the form of a shapeless man that glowed red and cracked with intense heat. The beast stood fifty feet tall with only its head, arms and torso leaving the safety of the sea. Its skin was a badly matched collection of dry, cracked lunar dust and radiant heat breathed from its ever-open, glowing red mouth.

The Doctor silently watched from the console, letting her become fully immersed in the dream. She started to sweat and then quake from fear as adrenaline coursed through her tiny body. As she was in no danger, the Doctor saw no reason to bring her from the dream state; they needed to know as much as possible. "Don't be afraid, Serenity. Whatever you see can't hurt you. You're here with me, on the TARDIS," he calmly told her. He knelt down to her and took her hand. She nodded in agreement. "Okay, now what's frightened you so much?"

"It looks like…" she started, trying to find the words, "It's like some kind of lava beast. He looks like a golem or something… it came out of the lunar dust, right off the back of my ship." She stared down the beast, finding the Doctor's voice and touch comforting.

"Can you see anything else?" he asked, wondering if that maybe the lava beast was a distraction to keep her occupied on it and not something else.

Serenity fought her instincts and looked away from the glowing ember golem. She scanned the horizon from the deck. The curvature of the tiny moon showed nothing in the immediate vicinity, but something nagged at Serenity; a feeling that something should have been there, something she knew intimately. She turned away from the lava creature and started to the main mast. As quick as she could muster, she climbed and climbed, using her little legs and arms to carry her up the rigging to the crow's nest.

The main mast seemed to be miles tall, and it took her a good few minutes to climb it. When she finally got to the crow's nest, she set about scanning the surface again. The sea was calm and stretched as far as she could see. The beast behind her breathed fire, but being this high up, she found that she wasn't afraid of it. For the first time since coming aboard, she was calm. The stings of cold and vacuum returned. Ahead of her, she could see the destination. It was a palace, grand and magnificent, yet ancient and lonely, like it'd been forgotten for ages.

Serenity disembarked her crow's nest, shimmying down the mast of her ship. She gave a yank on the rigging, unfurling the sails. As her speed increased toward the palace, she noticed a curious thing. The heat on her began to get hotter and hotter. She looked back, afraid of what was happening. The fire breather was bearing down on her.

The galleon's speed increased more, going faster and faster toward her destination, yet each knot faster only served to move the fire beast closer. Within sight of the deserted palace, the beast bared down, biting chunks of huge wooden ship off the stern. Still, her speed increased, the galleon now seemingly rocketing toward the palace and the edge of the sea. Above her, the Earth rose from the Moon's shadow, casting a lovely blue on the entire place.

The galleon reached its destination, arriving at the old palace. Serenity looked at it, curious about its arched doors and marvelous crafted and carved statues. She started for it, and reached the bow of her galleon when her legs failed. She'd become an unmoving statue on the deck of her ship. Then, she found herself in the mouth of the lava beast.

Her eyes shot wide open. She panted, out of breath and was sweating. Her pulse raced, remembering everything that had just happened. Her excited eyes scanned the Doctor, then everything on the TARDIS, happy to be there instead of on the moon.

"Welcome back," the Doctor greeted her. He leaned from side to side, checking her pupils. "You'll be all right, Serenity. Chip?" he asked, holding open the Styrofoam container from the pub. She took it from him, digging back into her potatoes. "That's a girl. I've got a Dr. Pepper machine in one of the storerooms, but I'll be buggered if I can remember which one…"

She looked up at him from the lump of chips. "What just happened to me?" Serenity asked in between bites. "It all seemed so real. I didn't leave here, did I?"

The Doctor smiled at her. "Of course you didn't, well, not physically anyway. I think your mind sort of went all bazooey with sixes and sevens for a minute," he explained, wiggling his fingers around her cranium. He then stood and did a twirl away from the girl, ending up at the console. "So, should we go?" he asked, looking at the still Time Rotor.

"Go where?" Serenity wondered. "And what do you mean it went all bazooey? What's that mean?" Her alien was now speaking in nonsense terms.

He turned back to her, again dropping to a knee. "I think that your dream wasn't really a dream," the Doctor told her. "I think that your dream is a psychic vision. Before, the only time you could access it was when you were asleep, and your conscious mind wasn't in charge. But here, on the TARDIS, the psychic energy is amplified and that's why it was vivid, and you were lucid during it. It's like someone's sending a message; whispers in the dark from the moon…" His face went blank, pondering what he'd just said. He looked back to her, grinning. "So, should we go?" he asked again.

"Go where?" Serenity hadn't the faintest idea what he had in mind.

"To the Moon, pay attention," the Doctor told her. Serenity's eyes opened wide in disbelief. "You're surprised? Oh c'mon, my people put whole worlds inside boxes and mastered black holes, do you think they'd not have space travel sussed out?"

Serenity looked at him as spun around at the console and typing on an old looking typewriter. "So, your little box can travel in space?" she asked.

"It also travels in time," he informed, facing her. "Hello? Time and Relative Dimension… You're not paying attention, are you?" She was flabbergasted, unable to speak. "Oh, c'mon. One little jaunt to the Moon. My TARDIS brought me here to help you, and I can't leave until we've gotten everything figured out." He looked at her, his face bearing his ever helpful and caring soul.

"But I just met you," Serenity objected, "I don't even know you."

He dropped down to her again. "Of course you do. Trust me," he told her, "I'm the Doctor."

Serenity looked at him pensively. They'd only met, and so far he was a strange man with a strange dress sense and a strange box that was bigger on the inside… but she felt he was the only person who could help her. Every fiber in her being was comfortable with him, as if she somehow was familiar with the odd man before her. "So, you're a mad man with a box who helps people?" she asked.

"Yes, that pretty much sums me up," he agreed.

Serenity decided to listen to her instinct. "Okay, let's go to the Moon…"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The TARDIS kicked and rocked about, the Doctor jumping around the console to keep the box on course. Little Serenity clung to her seat, not wanting to be kicked out and onto the floor. She was expecting a nice sedate ride in a wooden box, not something that was more akin to a roller coaster or bucking bronco from a rodeo. "Hey! Why's it all bumpy?" she shouted over the wailing Time Rotor and general ruckus that goes along with TARDIS operations.

"It's always bumpy!" the Doctor shouted back. "Ever since my 8th regeneration, TARDIS rides have been noticeably bumpier!" He paid no attention to her, instead focusing on not crashing and making sure that they made it to the Moon in one piece. "It's not bothering you, is it?"

Serenity clung onto the leather seat, gripping the foam in a death lock. "I didn't expect space travel to be bumpy!" she explained, "I thought space was an empty vacuum! Why does it feel like we're driving over a really bad road!"

"Well, I'd like to think that the TARDIS is getting on in her years and acting up!" the Doctor told her, "But I really think it's just more of my piloting being terrible!" He continued jumping about, with only the largest of knocks throwing him back and off his task.

Serenity was growing impatient and slightly fearful as the Box kicked around like a mule. "It's only 239,000 miles to the Moon, aren't we there yet?" she asked, her faith in the strange Doctor diminishing slightly.

The Doctor gave one yank on a big handbrake looking lever. The noise stopped. The TARDIS grew silent and for once, the ride became smooth. "Well, that's good timing," he told her, "Because we're here." Serenity stood and walked to join him at the controls. "Let's just have a look what's outside…"

He fiddled with the knobs on the old 1950's telly, trying to get a clear picture. It resisted, showing static. "You know, that's why the Type 40's were taken out of service," he explained to her, "Faulty chameleon circuits, bad shock absorbers, space time visualizer always on the blink…" The TARDIS took issue with his statement, clearing the picture for him. "That's a girl…" he told his old box, winking at the Time Rotor.

"So, that's the Moon?" Serenity asked, looking out on the shiny grey sands. "It's pretty bleak," she told him, "Just as bleak as my dreams."

"And no signs of any palaces or galleons," the Doctor told her. He weighed the options. The TARDIS had delivered him to this girl, to help her obviously to remember what had happened to her. So far, their only lead was her recurring dream. Only one option lay before them. "Well, we'll have to go for a walk," he told her.

"A walk?" she asked, quite sure the bowtied alien had gone mad. "Have you gone bonkers? There's no air on the Moon. We'll suffocate." If there was something that everyone knew, it's that there wasn't any air on the Moon.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked her.

"Very sure," she told him.

He fiddled with a knob, changing the readout from the local topography to lunar statistics. "Then, how do you explain the fact that there's exactly the same amount of gravity out there as back on Earth?" he asked. He swiveled the old telly, letting her look at the readings. She read, and then re-read the stats. _Gravity: 1 Earth unit._ "The only reason there isn't atmosphere on the Moon is because the gravity is too weak to hold it, but according to this, if we flood the Moon in regular old Earth atmosphere, it should stay."

"But how is that possible? The Moon is like an eighth the size of Earth," she reasoned, unable to grasp why there was gravity.

The Time Lord didn't know for sure, but had a pretty good guess of his own. "Maybe something changed since the Apollo missions," the Doctor spoke. The options filled his great old brain, working out every scenario. He slowly turned, looking at her. "I think I know what it is. It's you."

"Me?" Serenity asked, floored by the accusation.

"Yes you," the Doctor told her. "Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin may be well and good, but they aren't young Serenity…" he stumbled, "Sorry, I don't think I caught your surname?"

She rolled her eyes at the skinny alien Doctor. "Naxos. Serenity Naxos…" He looked strangely at her, surprised by her last name. "It's Greek originally," she explained.

"Right… Serenity Naxos… not a name I'd expect from the Cotswolds," he told her, sitting on the leather seat and crossing one leg over the other. It was all a might peculiar. "So, you have a psychic vision about this place, this mare, then we get here and there's exactly the gravity needed to keep an atmosphere so that we can walk around," he said. "You've definitely got to be what has changed. Just think, if Neil and Buzz would have brought you along in '69 they could have played a round of golf," he excitedly told her, grinning.

Serenity was growing impatient. "So, can we go out there? Can the TARDIS fill the atmosphere with regular Earth air?" She crossed her arms and, cocked her head to one side; pre-teen attitude.

The Doctor stood from his seat, moving to the environmental control. "Of course it can; my TARDIS can do anything… at least I think so, anyway," he told her. "I should be able to delete a few store rooms, so goodbye Dr. Pepper machine, I won't need Amy and Rory's bedroom anymore, plus we can get rid of the swimming pool temporarily. I think that should give me the juice needed to fill the Moon with air…" He stopped for a moment and shuddered. "I never thought I'd say that; fill the Moon with air." He grinned at her goofily.

"Get on with it then," Serenity urged. Her mind raced, eager to get to the bottom of her amnesia riddled mind. So far, her instincts to trust the Doctor had paid off; no other counselors believed the Moon dream was significant, and even if they had, there's no way any of them had a spaceship and could take her there.

The Time Lord spun a control on the console, this one looking like a rubber ball with pencils jammed into it. As it spun a hissing sound filled the control room. "There it goes," he told her, "Earth atmosphere being pumped into the Moon; seventy eight percent nitrogen, twenty some percent oxygen and just a little bit of argon, neon, CO2, helium… a marvelous gas Earth atmosphere," the Doctor told her, in wonderment of such a small piece of the cosmos.

The Doctor departed her, going down the stairs to the hall tree. He pressed on his Stetson, and then saw that little Serenity wasn't following. "Are you coming?" he asked turning back for her. She nodded furiously, and then joined him by the door. "Tell me Serenity, in school, did you ever study any Chiricahua Apache Indians? You know, for social studies?" he asked.

She wasn't sure why he wanted to know, or what that had to do with being on the Moon, but she humored him. She thought about it for a minute, thinking about any Apache that their teacher may have mentioned. Only one stuck out for her. "Uh, Geronimo..."

He smiled. "Well said," he told her, taking the girl's hand. He swung the doors open, leading himself and Serenity outside. The landscape was cold and grey, and full of nothing but dust. The air was nice, and smelled like it was pulled from an apple orchard. The air was chilly, but not freezing as it would have been if there was no atmosphere. They both looked around, pondering the options.

Serenity watched as from his inside jacket pocket, he produced a strange tool. He pointed it out over the sand. The end glowed green and it made a weird noise, not quite a hissing but more welcoming than a whirr. When that was done, the end of it sprung out. The Doctor commenced to looking at it very carefully. "What's that thing?" she asked.

The Doctor closed the claw-looking end and stuffed it back into his pocket. "It's my Sonic Screwdriver," he told her. "I just took a reading, trying to get a fix on your palace." He looked out over the soft and still sands.

"How can a screwdriver scan anything?" she asked, picking apart his nomenclature.

"It's technically I suppose you'd call it a probe," he told her, "I just call it a screwdriver… and are you always this inquisitive?" he asked, looking down at her.

Serenity, in her youthful innocence, saw nothing wrong with picking apart his naming conventions. "I've been told I'm a very curious and bright young girl," she informed. "So, what'd your screwdriver tell you?"

The Doctor looked at her, knowing that there was much more going on with little Serenity than met the eye. "That way," he told her, pointing off in one direction. He led her, across the silt and fine lunar dust to what they could guess was the west. At least that's what the Doctor figured; it was to the left of magnetic north.

"I don't see anything," Serenity confessed after walking for a few hundred feet. "Did your screwdriver make a mistake or something?" She looked up at him for answers, her faith continuing to waver.

"I don't think so," the Doctor admitted, "But I do make mistakes on occasion." He removed the Sonic Screwdriver again, scanning the area. "Nope, we're off," he told her. He took her hand and turned around, heading back toward the TARDIS. They checked all sides of the blue box, finding nothing on the horizon. He crumpled his brow after another scan; the readings didn't make sense. "Well, I'm stumped. It leads us off one way, then back here," he informed. "What do you think?" The Doctor hoped she'd have some insight; not all was as it seemed about this girl.

She looked at him, then at the TARDIS. "Maybe… maybe it's like when you put a magnet too close to a compass. I mean, your Screwdriver is a part of the TARDIS right? Maybe the reading from further away was the right one…" she pondered.

He too looked at the box. "Or maybe the Sonic is trying to tell us something…" His mind wandered, remembering Serenity recounting her dream. "Remember what you told me. When you were on the galleon? The Earth rose and you were able to see the palace clearly…" He made for the door, going inside.

Serenity followed, closing the wooden doors. "We're too early," she spoke, walking up the few stairs and joining the Time Lord at the controls. She'd gotten the hint.

"Right, or too late, I suppose depending on how you look at things," he told her, fiddling with the controls. "I think if I jab us into the future about six hours, just when the Earth is due to rise, we should see your palace." The words fell upon Serenity, but she paid them no attention. She went back to her seat, overwhelmed and dropping her head. "What's wrong?" the Doctor probed, noticing her distress and moving to her.

She kept a firm gaze fixed on her own knees. "This is too much. An hour ago, I was in school, then in my booth eating chips and listening to _Hound Dog_. Is this how it always is with you?" she asked, looking at her new friend. "Is it always rushing off to save troubled girls?" She was overcome and a tear rolled down her cheek.

He dropped down and smiled, hoping to comfort her. "It's sort of what I do," he informed. "Don't you want to know what should be in that missing gap in your head?" he asked, gently tapping on her forehead as if it was a door.

"More than anything," Serenity told him. "But at what cost? I feel like learning this will have the most horrible of consequences. And you're so special. You reach out and help so many, with no thought for yourself… a mad man with a box who saves people… and if it all ends badly… are you prepared for that, Doctor?"

He wiped the tear from her face. "Whatever it is, we'll face it together," he assured her. "Over the past 900 years, my friends have always been the best parts of me. Amy and Rory, Wilfred, Donna, Martha, Rose… I went to the ends of the universe for all of them, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I needed to. No matter the consequences, I won't ever, _ever_, give up on you Serenity. I promise."

Their gazes met. She looked at his caring, old eyes, big ears and big round jaw, and she knew that he was the most upstanding and caring man in the entire universe. "Okay," she agreed, nodding. "Then let's get to it," she urged, standing and going to the console. She scanned over the panels, making notes in her head of what everything was.

The Doctor followed. He looked at his small companion, thrilled that she decided to continue on. He disengaged the handbrake, gave a spin to the atom accelerator, set the coordinates for six hours ahead and then started off the Time Rotor. The Time Lord and companion hung onto the edge of the console as the loud Vworps filled the whole TARDIS.

Little Serenity looked up at the groaning Time Rotor, mesmerized by the up and down motion of the ovoid shapes set into the clear cylinder. She didn't even mind the bumpy ride. In fact, part of her enjoyed it. Breaking from the norm of school, counselors, chips and Elvis was proving to be great stimulation for her. She reveled in the noises and the harsh ride and the mish-mash of seemingly ancient technology and stuff that would make NASA blush. She smiled, happy as the TARDIS kicked her around.

The Doctor too noticed it. Between changing inputs to get them to six hours in the future, he'd glance over and check on his new friend. Each time, the smile on her face grew. He smiled himself, happy to have a companion again, even if only temporarily. "Nearly there," he told her. The whole box shook violently one more time and then came to a halt.

Serenity wasted no time, making a dash for the door. She opened the blue wooden door and stepped out onto the Moon. The air hadn't warmed any and the ground was still just loose dust that kicked up when it was stepped on. Her gaze moved skyward. Before where only stars were visible in the sky, now sat the home for all humanity, perfectly round and in every shade of blue and green. The Earth dominated the sky, looking insignificant and grand all at the same time. "Oh wow," was all she could mutter before her jaw dropped to the ground.

"Amazing isn't it?" the Doctor asked, stepping out behind her. He adjusted his Stetson and then placed a supporting hand on his tiny companion's shoulder. "You ought to see the Jupiter-rise from Ganymede. Almost as pretty as Earth," he explained, looking lovingly at the planet which had become a second home for the Doctor. "Best get on, we've got your palace to find," he reminded.

Serenity reached out for his hand. The two left the Earth-rise and went to the side of the old Police Box. There, bathed in the blue glow of the Earth's oceans, it stood. Both the Doctor and Serenity looked at the old palace in wonderment. "It's huge," Serenity commented, feeling a twinge of pain and fear inside her.

"It's fantastic," the Doctor spoke, dumbstruck himself. "I've seen lots of things Serenity; old Egyptian gods, Cyberman armies that would make a normal man soil himself and more weddings than I care to count, but I've never seen anything like this." He looked up at the multistoried palace, made from grey moon dust bricks and set against the blackness of space. The hundreds of windows were high and arched, with a metal lattice over them. Balconies jutted from the highest level windows. They both expected some sort of princess to be standing out on it, waiting for her lost love to return, or some other fairy tale scene.

The Earthlight showed a walkway leading to the main gate, with ancient looking statues lining the path. The Lunar visitors started towards it. Each step closer to the gate carried them past a set of statues, both stone faces glaring at each other. With each step, the old stone creaked awake from ancient slumber.

"Do you hear that?" the Doctor asked, feeling the hair on his neck stand on end. "It's something… I'm hoping it's not what I think it is," he admitted. Both he and Serenity looked around. They carefully took another step forward, still scanning the area. "There," the Doctor said, spotting one of the statues. Its eyes glowed red and seemed to follow the Doctor and Serenity as they went to the palace gates. The Time Lord let out a relived sigh. "Dodged a bullet there," the Doctor remarked, glad he could see them moving, "Here I thought for a second they were Weeping Angels..." he explained.

"What's a Weeping Angel?" Serenity asked, not knowing about the deadly Angels of old. Before the Doctor could answer, the moon quaked. Both the Doctor and Serenity were caught off guard, causing them to fall to their knees. Behind them, moon dust swirled and quaked, and then glowed orange and red. "I think we both know what happens next," Serenity said, looking over to her Doctor. She remembered this from her dream.

"Did I mention that my friends and I used to do a lot of running?" he asked. They both stood, the Doctor reaching out for her hand once they were on their feet. His grasp found her and together they both proceeded toward the palace as fast as the new gravity would let them. "You haven't got a water pistol handy, have you?" he asked mid-stride.

"No, why?" Serenity shouted back.

The Doctor had some experience in the area of magma organisms. "Oh, just a surefire way of dealing with lava creatures!" he told her. Telling Serenity about him and his mate Donna's trip to Mt. Vesuvius would have to wait until they weren't in mortal danger.

The beast grew behind them, rising from the sands like Godzilla did from the ocean in one of the old movies. Its mouth glowed fire-red and heat radiated from angry eyes. It started toward them on the path.

Both trespassers arrived at the gate, but had no way of getting in. "What do we do now?" Serenity asked in a panic. She looked back, seeing their lava assailant growing closer and closer. She cowered up against her Doctor, not wanting to be eaten as she was in the dream.

The Doctor quickly scanned the area around him, looking for some way to escape without use of a water pistol. Behind them were the heavy wooden doors, next to that some of the latticed windows. "Serenity, never under any circumstances," he started, taking out his Sonic Screwdriver and going to a statue. The Screwdriver glowed green on the statues neck, cracking it around the diameter of the stone. "Never, do I condone vandalism... unless of course you're being chased by a lava beast on the Moon." He cranked his arm back, and then let the heavy stone fly.

The glass shattered into a million pieces, but the metal lattice still barred the way. He jumped up into the small ledge, going at the metal with his Sonic, trying to weaken it in only a few seconds with only the power of sound. The lava beast opened a hand, drawing a ball of molten lava into it.

The beast flung the magma at him with the force of a thousand cricket hurlers.

The Doctor covered little Serenity on the ground, letting the lava ball crash thought the iron lattice for him. Seeing that the beast had helped them, the Doctor quickly jumped up into the window, taking care not to touch any of the hot, glowing red bits. He reached down for Serenity, pulling her up into the window too. The lava beast again tried his molten lava ball, but this one collided with the sturdy old palace. The Doctor and Serenity were already safe inside.

They both rested up against the wall, collapsing down on the floor. They breathed heavy, the excitement of nearly being melted getting the best of them. "That was exciting," Serenity told him. She looked over at the Doctor, who was digging into his suit pockets. "What are you doing?" she panted.

"There it is," he spoke, pulling a bright yellow and cumbersome shape from his pocket. "I knew I carried my Super Soaker 50 someplace in my pocket," he said, happy to see the translucent and rather large water gun. "Hottest toy of the late 1980's," he informed. Excitedly, he unscrewed the top water tank. "Blimey… empty," he informed, turning it upside down.

"How'd that fit in your pocket?" Serenity asked, knowing full well that a full sized water gun, nay a water cannon, wouldn't fit into the average pocket.

"Bigger on the inside," he told her. Serenity rolled her eyes at him. "You wouldn't believe all the stuff I've accumulated over the years; pet rock, slinky, water gun, quantum phase inducer, the Ladybird Book of Astronavigation, Hornby brand junior pocket oscilloscope… I carry loads of stuff in these old pockets," he informed, pulling each item from its resting place in the Time Lord's jacket. "Never know when you might need this… ooh, a bottle of Perrier," he said, pulling a clear green glass bottle of water out. "This might come in handy…" he poured the green bottle of water into his Super Soaker, then tidied the whole thing up, stuffing his pockets full again.

Serenity paid no attention to him as he played show and tell with his pocket contents. She was much too enthralled by the carvings cut into the walls and the tapestries that hung about. The halls were bathed in the blue glow of Earth. She looked over each one carefully, trying to construct the story in her mind. The first tapestry was in homage to a Moon goddess. She stood on the tallest balcony, looking out at the Earth. Serenity's feet carried her down the hallway, onto the next one. Here, she noticed the same goddess, in the forefront of two larger, more powerful looking gods.

The most dominating figure was to the far right, with beams of light emanating from behind him. He was a powerful looking figure, as if in control of everything. He was a father, she thought. Little Serenity, on looking at the stone, was reminded of her own father. A flood of memories filled her head about her father, taken away so violently. She couldn't believe that she was able to forget him. He was tall, with curly hair and a beard. He was an astronomer, carefully studying the movement of the sun and moon and stars. He studied seasons and taught them to her. In her mind, he was controller of all; in the heavens and on Earth. He had no equal.

The second figure, to the left of the father, Serenity reasoned was the mother. Her stone face was cut with incredible detail, accenting extreme beauty. Serenity idolized her forgotten mother, placing her on a pedestal higher than even chips or Elvis songs. Serenity remembered her beautiful face, with the most caring and compassionate brown eyes and dark hair, which Serenity inherited, and an absolutely radiant smile. She loved her mother. Serenity stepped back, not believing that she was able to forget such integral parts of her. Her parents meant everything to her.

The Doctor kept babbling about the things in his pocket as Serenity continued down the corridor, looking at more of the carvings. A woman in a long toga trumpeted, heralding the approach of a man on a chariot. For the oddest reason, this charioted man reminded her of someone… a brother. She could remember that he was a bright child who always excelled in school. Following Ben Franklin's old axiom, he was always quick to bed as well, not long after sundown. She too, held her brother in high regard. And she missed him dearly, despite the feeling that she and he were never in the same place at the same time.

Her feet carried her down the hallway, drinking in the carvings and remembering the past; her forgotten past. Quickly however, after following the stories laid into the walls, she took a few rights and lefts. Serenity soon found herself alone in the giant and old palace. The air was still, spooky still, and the silence inherent in abandoned palaces echoed louder than a thousand drums. "Doctor!" she called out, seeing that he wasn't there, babbling anymore. "Doctor!" she tried again. Nothing but echoes found the way back to her.

She started frantically down the hallway, looking desperately for her friend. She ran back the way she thought she came, but found nothing. The wall carvings were changing by the foot and she could find no way back. The windows were all unbroken and no slab of partially molten lava rested in the corridor. Serenity panted heavily, thoroughly lost.

Part of Serenity was glad. She'd finally remembered her parents and her brother, sort of. But in remembering them, she lost them all over again. The cause of their loss was not apparent to her, but she was nonetheless overcome with sadness. "It'll take all three..." she told herself, unsure why. Not knowing their love ate away at her. And now she'd lost perhaps the only person who could help her find closure.

Serenity carried on, finding herself in a large room with a staircase. She curled up at the foot of the stairs. She then let out a few sobs, missing everyone special to her. Trying to act grown up, she took a few deep breaths and tried to stop her cries. She then thought of the old Police Box that was bigger on the inside and her funny Doctor who talked strange, acted stranger and carried a water cannon in his pockets. She thought of the funny noises the TARDIS made and being kicked around like she was on a roller coaster. She thought of the names that the Doctor had mentioned and how special they must have been to him; Amy and Rory… Wilfred… Donna… Martha… Rose. She didn't know any of them, but if they were in league with the Doctor, she knew that they were good people.

Her mind wandered again to that stupid bowtie and Stetson. She had to smile at how absurd he looked when she first saw him. Short pants and boots paired with a tweed jacket and bowtie… how bizarre. Despite just meeting him, she missed those old, compassionate eyes and big ears carefully hidden behind his swoopy haircut. She missed his big round jaw and soft speaking voice. "He said he'd never give up on me," she reminded herself, "And he won't. The Doctor keeps his word, I just know he will."

She closed her eyes and thought hard. She focused every fiber of thought and imagination in her body on one thing. Her plea beamed out, leaving her tiny body. It flew from the Moon and echoed into every timeline throughout the whole universe. Her plea was a simple one. "I'm scared Doctor. Please come and find me. Help me, Doctor..."

A silent figure approached, in a brown suit and with spiked hair. He reached for her.

From above, a second figure descended down the stairs, this one in a leather coat…


	3. Chapter 3

Spiked Hair, Trainers and a Suit – The Tenth Doctor Chapter 3

The Doctor looked up at the silent Time Rotor. "It's always like this, isn't it?" he asked the old capsule. "Just you and me… from the very beginning, it's always been you and me. When everyone leaves or grows old or has to have their memory wiped to keep from burning up because of a Human/Time Lord meta-crisis, it's always you and me; the crazy old man and his box." He let out a sigh; the sigh of a tired old man nearing his end.

He looked at the only place he'd be able to call home. Masses of cables lined the floor, leading from the walls to the Time Rotor to the doors and everywhere in between. The porthole windows, all 282 of them, glowed a soft yellow light into the control room. The massive coral looking uprights supported the whole of the huge control room in a nice, sloping, pleasant gradient.

This was the latest it had looked. When he started ages ago, just he and his granddaughter, the TARDIS was much less sophisticated. Where now there were uprights to keep everything off the ground, before there was nothing, and the ceiling was straight up. The fluorescent light and high white ceilings made it feel more like a hospital than a magical spaceship that travelled in time. The old console was a hexagon, with a small bobbing Time Rotor jutting in and out when in flight.

All the way up through his seventh incarnation, the TARDIS always was done up in minor variations on the same thing. About the time his TARDIS decided to take on a new look, the Daleks and Time Lords struck a peace accord. Everyone on Gallifrey thought a Time Lord/Dalek treaty would be fantastic. How wrong they were…

Everything was so simple back then. It was a time of travel and exploration, one of great wonderment and curiosity. It was a time of old vinyl records and Jelly Babies in between planet stops. Whether getting a long brown coat from Janis Joplin or hip shaking with Elvis, it was a good time. However The Doctor's arch-nemesis, a rival and insane Time Lord called the Master, was put on trial on Skaro, the Dalek home world, for numerous and heinous crimes. The Master was executed, but his immense, evil will broke him free from his eternal prison. It forcing the Doctor's TARDIS to take an emergency landing on Earth and from there, the Master commandeered the body of a human. After contending with the Master, and setting everything with the universe right, the Doctor set back to his home world of Gallifrey.

Then absolute and literal hell broke loose. There were nights where images of horror and fright were all that would occupy the Doctor's mind. He tried to fight them off, traveling and meeting his wonderful friends, but in the end, the Last Great Time War was always the elephant in the room. He was a veteran, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder of the most horrible kind.

He'd seen so much during the war; so many horrors. He'd be forever scarred by the Could Have Been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-weres, the Nightmare Child and the Horde of Travesties. The Fall of Arcadia hit the Doctor especially hard. It was there that he faced the one decision that defined him. It was there, that the Doctor placed the whole of the Time War into a Time Lock, effectively saving the universe, but costing him his home and entire race of people.

He carried mixed emotions about his actions that day. By no means did he ever feel good about what was essentially genocide of his own, but his race, the glorious and all knowing Time Lords had become so twisted and evil in their fight against the Daleks, the Doctor questioned if they were any better than Daleks themselves. And their destructive war with the Daleks could have unraveled the very fabric of space time; it was something he couldn't let happen.

Then, in less than an instant, he found himself alone. The greatest conflict, with the greatest odds ever, was suddenly over. Two of the mightiest civilizations in the history of the Universe were snuffed out, as if they never existed. Lesser creatures throughout the universe didn't even know it was happening. Higher functioning species, such as the Nestene Consciousness did feel the effects, which led to the Doctor's trip to Earth in 2005, whereupon he met one Rose Tyler, changing his life forever.

She melted away the grizzled old and sad soldier, letting the Doctor be himself; a 900 year old child who sought out the wonders of the universe in his magic Blue Box. And Rose was just the tip of the iceberg. After losing Rose in a parallel universe where she could live peacefully with her parents, the Doctor met Donna Noble and stopped an alien called the Racnoss from taking over Earth. Donna departed him soon after and the Doctor, while following an alien vampire to King's Cross Hospital, met a med student named Martha Jones. He and Martha saw the wonders of everything, going as far into the future as he had ever gone, the year one hundred trillion. There, at the end of time itself, along with the Doctor's friend Capt. Jack Harkness who had stowed away on the TARDIS, they met a man called Professor Yana. Yana was actually the Master, who'd been resurrected by the Time Lords to fight, but when he saw the Gallifreyans losing, he underwent the Chameleon Arch process, which erased his memories and changed his physiology, making him appear human.

On meeting the Doctor and seeing the TARDIS, the Master's personality soon restored itself and the evil Time Lord hijacked the Doctor's TARDIS, leaving the Doctor, Martha and Capt. Jack stranded at the end of time. As swift as ever, the Doctor repaired Jack's Vortex Manipulator, left over from Jack's days in the Time Agency. Soon, the trio found themselves back on Earth, fighting Harold Saxon, newly elected UK Prime Minister and the persona that the Master had assumed.

Martha, Jack and the Doctor endured, stopping the Master and setting history right. After Martha left, Donna returned, wanting to travel with the Doctor forever. The two became best friends, seeing the wonders of the cosmos together. Together, the Doctor and Donna saved a family from Mt. Vesuvius before the eruption, solved a genuine mystery with Agatha Christie in the 1920's and liberated the Ood, a slave race being persecuted by corrupt humans. But soon, all that took a back seat as the Doctor's deadliest enemy returned.

The Daleks, thought locked away forever, reappeared in the universe. Their creator, a mad scientist named Davros, used cells from his own body to recreate the whole of the Dalek Empire. Seeing himself as God and creating the Daleks in his image, they launched a secret campaign, gathering whole planets in an area of void space called the Medusa Cascade to power the most terrible weapon Davros had ever created. It was a directed energy cannon that could unbind the electrical force that holds atoms together. Davros called it the reality bomb, and intended to use it to erase all of reality so that his Daleks would be the most dominant species ever.

The final planet hijacked to the Medusa Cascade was Earth. After finding Earth and the 26 other planets, which were phase shifted to keep them hidden, the Doctor was set to be reunited with Rose, whom he thought was lost forever in a parallel universe.

He recalled it as if it was yesterday. In scene straight from the movies, the Doctor stepped from the TARDIS, and there she was, standing on the street waiting for him. They started to run towards one another for a happy reunion when horror struck. A lone Dalek patrolling fired a shot, striking the Doctor. Captain Jack Harkness, who was mobilized to defend the Earth by former UK Prime Minister Harriet Jones, destroyed the Dalek, but not before the shot proved fatal to the Time Lord.

On the TARDIS with Rose, Jack and Donna at his side, the Doctor started to regenerate. During those frightening moments, Rose struggled with the Time Lord process the most. After crossing whole universes to get back to the Doctor, she felt as if her trip was in vain as he was going to regenerate into a new man. Always a step ahead of everyone else, the Doctor used the regeneration energy to repair himself, but siphoned off his remaining energy into a severed hand that had been cut off during a swordfight with the Sycorax on Christmas day in 2006. His hand was recovered by Capt. Jack Harkness, who kept the hand safe at the Torchwood Three Hub in Cardiff. Jack returned the hand to the Doctor when he and Martha stopped in Cardiff, before they traveled off to the end of time.

While the Doctor was undergoing his partial regeneration, the Daleks captured the TARDIS, sending it to their flagship, the Crucible. The Doctor, being the oldest enemy of the Daleks, was ordered from the old capsule so that he could watch helplessly as Davros achieved total victory and destroyed all of reality. In the final moment, the old Box itself, knowing what needed to happen, closed its doors and kept Donna from leaving. The Daleks, seeing the TARDIS as a weapon dropped the old Box, Donna included, into the ship's Z-Neutrino engines, guaranteeing the TARDIS destruction and Donna's death.

In her final few moments, and with the TARDIS going up in flames around her, Donna felt herself drawn to the severed hand holding all of the Doctor's regeneration energy. Just before the Box was incinerated, she reached out and touched the casing, causing the first and only Human/Time Lord meta-crisis. The energy from the hand combined with Donna, creating a whole new Doctor from the severed appendage. He was equipped with the brain of a Time Lord but only one heart and no regenerative abilities. He was therefore a human.

The Meta-Crisis Doctor quickly dematerialized the TARDIS, getting it out of the Dalek engines and putting it on silent running so that he and Donna could work out a plan. However, it was a two way biological meta-crisis, meaning that Donna absorbed the regeneration energy as well, giving her the intelligence of the Doctor, provided she got enough of a spark to fire the new synapses in her brain.

As every strategy to stop the Daleks failed, the Doctor, Rose, Martha, Jack, Sarah Jane, Mickey and Rose's mum Jackie found themselves at the mercy of their enemy. Then, an event so unexpected caught everyone off guard. Just as Davros was set to activate the reality bomb, everyone's favorite and wonderful screeching noise filled the Dalek Crucible. Davros wheeled his crippled self to an open part of the floor, just as three flashes filled the room. There it stood, before Davros with light emanating from the windows and the words 'Police Public Call Box'. The door creaked open, and everyone succumbed to shock at seeing a second Doctor emerge from the Box.

Both the Meta-Crisis Doctor and Donna were intercepted by Davros, who shot both the new Time Lords with a directed electrical blast, thwarting their plan. The jolt allowed the Daleks the time necessary to begin firing the reality bomb. However, the ground fell from under their feet at the last second. The electrical blast awakened the dormant neurons in Donna's brain, and temp from Chiswick shut down the Dalek systems. With effectively three Doctors working together, Davros and his Daleks were no match for the Children of Time.

But it was a hollow victory. The day was saved but irreparable damage was done. Martha, Jack and Mickey left the Doctor, and headed back to Torchwood. Sarah Jane went back to her normal life being a loving mother for her son Luke. And again, the Doctor had to say goodbye to Rose at Dårlig Ulv Stranden, leaving her with his human counterpart, hoping that they would be happy together. Lastly he had to erase Donna's mind so that it wouldn't burn out under the weight of carrying the Doctor's knowledge; her human brain was just too fragile. This time… he was truly alone, just him and his Box.

He let out an exasperated sigh. "One more trip before the finale?" he asked the old Box, "One more before my song comes to an end?" He stood and went to the controls. "What should it be, hmm? Something fun, whimsical, a touch nostalgic that I can do by myself…" He smiled at the Time Rotor. "I think I know the place…"

The Doctor gave a spin to the year selector, set the coordinates for Nova Atar and disengaged the handbrake. Screechy Vworps filled the control room as the TARDIS bucked wildly, kicking the Time Lord about inside. He did his best, holding it as steady as possible piloting on his own.

He had to smile, thinking about the past. The last time it'd flown straight and true was just after stopping the Daleks. The TARDIS takes a crew of six to operate smoothly, and after stopping Davros, he had plenty of help to fly the old capsule. Martha, Rose, Jack, Mickey, Sarah Jane and himself all manned a station and used the TARDIS to tow Earth back to its proper place in the universe. That was the only time in recent memory that the old Police Box was operated properly.

The Doctor smiled, missing his long gone friends and hoping that he still would have had one of them to share the adventure with. Time and space was always better with two. The wave of nostalgia quickly was bucked away as the old Police Box careened about, knocking the Doctor around. "Too bad they didn't fit you with an autopilot…" he told the controls.

The Box did nothing to help him, forcing the Doctor to manage on his own. He held on, letting the ride just happen. Soon enough though, the bucking stopped and he'd arrived at his destination. He looked over at the wooden door, wondering how many more time's he'd get to look at it before his song ended and he'd change into someone else.

He started for the door, pulling his long brown overcoat on. He made no remarks, didn't look back at the Police Box and paid no attention to anyone around him. Before, arriving at a place such as this would promote much pomp and circumstance to a companion, but today, none of it was needed. He truly hated being alone.

The world he was now on looked as if it was cast in pieces of solid black plastic. The world was dark, like a forgotten basement inhabited only by 18 year old blokes. Ancient hieroglyphs littered the walls, with some of them looking like English words such as Nintendo, Atari, Xbox and Sony. The place was very vacant, which wasn't at all normal. He approached a turnstile attached to a glass box office. "Crikey, their prices have gone up," he remarked, reading that a single's pass now cost 1,200 credits.

He removed his psychic paper from his pocket, willing the image of an Insta-Scan debit system onto the paper. He went to the turnstile, held up his magical paper, then preceded through, everything working flawlessly. Since he had no one to share the adventure with, he decided that today should be single player experience. Deeming nostalgia in order, he went for the section of plastic cast in the late 1980's. A flowing font above the door noted this was the section for the Sega Genesis.

A few hundred souls mulled about the planet, using the facilities at a margin of their capacity. Most of the occupants were drawn to the more sophisticated games; _Halo_ was a perennial favorite, as was the _Metal Gear_ franchise. Things like _Premier League Cup Final_ and _Wimbledon_ were also very popular. Only one person loitered in the Sega section with him, a girl of about seventeen.

The girl looked up at the Time Lord, peering at him from dark eyeliner and mascara. Her hair was dark and poufy and she looked as if she was there on the prowl. Her attire was something designed to elicit a response from male suitors of her own age; leggings, short skirt and a hip, midriff leather coat and low cut band tee. "What's your game?" she asked, noting the clever pairing of trainers and a suit. They both waited for the lift that would take them to the game of their choice.

"Sorry?" the Doctor asked, not sure of what to make of the girl or what she was asking him.

"What are you here to play?" she asked, shaking her head. Typical teen frustration and attitude set in. She refrained from showing it however, because he was quite good looking.

"Oh," he stumbled for a minute, "It's called _The Immortal_. Ever heard of it?" he asked. Again she shook 'no.' "Oh it's a goody. Single player crawl through a dungeon looking for your old magic teacher," he told her, "Normally, I'd do the real thing, dungeons, dragons and all that, but today I think I'm feeling a touch 16-bit," he explained with a sigh.

She looked over at the skinny man with his long coat and strange, down demeanor. "What's that mean? The real thing?" He looked over at her, grinning softly. "Like you can go places where there are real castles and dragons and stuff? Why you wasting your time here then?" she asked.

He looked forward again, at the lift doors. "Because it's safe. I haven't got much time," he told her, "Pretty soon, I won't be here. So I decided that one last video game would be fun, before I head off to the Planet of the Ood."

He was an odd duck, she decided. She had no idea what kind of lunatic had joined her at the queue. "So, what's an Ood?" she asked, deciding to learn more about him while waiting for the lift.

He looked around at the plastic world before him. "Let's see, this is about the what? 38th century? Oh, Humanity hasn't discovered the Ood yet," he realized. The girl gave him a raised eyebrow. "An Ood is an alien. They're telepathic and they'll get quite cozy with humanity here in about 100 years," he explained. His gaze redirected forward, back at the lift door.

She could hardly believe her eyes. Here was a normal, good looking guy that was completely mental. It was almost impossible to fathom. "So," she started, not knowing if it was wise to keep talking to him, "So, what's your name?" she asked. He was at least ten times more interesting than old 16-bit Sega games, if not a bit wacky.

"I'm the Doctor," he informed, still looking forward, "You?"

She couldn't believe that. Totally mental, awesome dress sense and he's called the Doctor. "Are you some kind of drug dealer or something?"

He couldn't believe the gall of this young person. "A drug dealer?" he asked, turning to her, "Why'd you think I'm a drug dealer?" His face crumpled and voice pitched up, going all squeaky.

She got a giggle from his squeaks. "Well, you're called the Doctor, which isn't exactly normal. And you dress great; very stylish, but you talk absolute nonsense." The Doctor listened to the charges, not disagreeing with any of them. "Someone like that either is just totally whacked out or they're pushing."

"I am a bit different," he admitted, "But I'm not pushing… and how'd you know how drug dealers are? You're seventeen, you shouldn't be doing stuff like that," he told her.

"Don't start," she warned, copping more teenage attitude. "My parents were always like that; telling me when to be out or in, who I can see and can't… it's a bunch of rubbish," she admitted. Her stern gaze sent the clear message that she wanted the subject dropped.

"All right, I'm not going to ask," the Doctor told her, "But you still haven't told me your name."

Her attitude changed instantly, as teen moods so often do. "My name's Rena," she admitted, "Nice to meet you, Doctor."

He nodded in acknowledgement, and then silence fell on the waiting area. They both patiently stood waiting, looking pensively at one another from time to time. "So, are you here alone?" he asked her, deciding to kill some more time.

"Yeah," she told him. "I thought I'd meet a cute boy down here that I could get to know, but there hasn't been anyone besides you." She moved to lean up against the wall. She was still in prowl mode as she gave him a once over. Her eyes narrowed as she bit down playfully on her own lip. Subtlety she unzipped her jacket down, exposing some of herself. "Maybe we were supposed to meet…" she teased.

"I doubt that," he told her, still facing forward, "Now zip up; I'm way too old for you."

She did as he told her, a bit angry that he'd denied her one subtle advance. She stood away from the wall, putting back on her teen attitude. "So, you're like what? Thirty… thirty five?" she asked.

"A bit older than that," the Doctor informed. "I was too old for my last one, too," he admitted, thinking of Rose. "I made a total hash of that one. But she's happy, I hope. She's probably married by now. Bit of a bugger, I didn't even get to go to my own wedding… I'm usually rubbish at them anyway."

It didn't compute for her. "Wait," Rena said, "Why would she be marrying you if you made a hash of the relationship?" she asked, trying to make sense of the madman.

He did his best to think of how to tell the story without talking about the past five years of his life. "Well, she basically married a clone of me. There was a meta-crisis, y'see, and I siphoned off my regeneration energy into a hand that I had cut off during a sword fight on Christmas and then the touch from my friend Donna caused the hand to form another version of me, that one being completely human."

Rena's eyebrow couldn't have gotten any higher on her forehead. "You're totally mad," she told him.

"I know," he glibly agreed. "I'm supposed to be mad; I'm the Doctor."

Rena suddenly didn't mind there not being any cute boys loitering in the Sega section. This Doctor character was much, _much_, more interesting. "So, if the clone was human, what are you?" She inched closer to him, not out of sexual attraction, but out of sheer interest.

He remembered the vast fields of red grass that he'd never see again. "I'm the last of my kind," he explained, "A long dead race. We watched over all of creation from a planet that's now gone as well. I'm the last of the Time Lords," he told her.

"I've heard of the Time Lords," Rena nonchalantly admitted.

The admission shocked the Doctor; the events of the Time War were generally unknown to low creatures like humans. Only humans that associate with the Doctor even had knowledge of the Time Lords, and this girl wasn't one of them. His gaze widened. "What have you heard?" he asked.

She did her best to recall what someone had told her ages ago, when she was a child. "Well, I had a friend a long time ago. He told me about the Time Lords. He said you were in a war, a great, big, nasty war. One that couldn't have been prevented, despite how much you think it could have been."

The Doctor was floored. It was quite something that an ordinary human from the 38th century would have heard about the Time Lords, even more of a stretch that she knew about the Time War. "What else did he tell you?" he asked.

A sudden pang fell over him. His gut knotted into a lump, the one formed when you feel that you're desperately late for an engagement or needed somewhere. _'It's probably the Ood calling me back,'_ he reasoned, writing it off. He grimaced, bending slightly and holding his abdomen. His unexpected companion noticed.

"You okay?" Rena asked, leaning towards him in a caring display, despite not knowing this wacky Doctor. She rubbed him on the back, unsure why she was doing it.

"Probably just the Ood," he told her from clenched teeth. "They've been calling out to me telepathically. My song is about up, they said. Well forgive me if I don't feel like running off to my death." He stood and stretched, doing his best to work the knots in his stomach out. Relief fell over him. "Oh that's better. That's a bit of a newie; they've never hurt before."

"You are completely mental," Rena told him.

"Oh yes," he told her, with a wink. He looked over her, remembering everything about his companions that he missed. Donna's wit, Martha's great attitude and the general feeling of rapture he felt about Rose. _'Why not add one more?'_ he asked himself, spying the teen girl. "Do you want to come with me?" he asked.

She looked at him, not knowing how to act. "Like, in the game?" she asked.

"Well, for starters yeah," he told her. "I think I can fit in a few trips before the Ood get too impatient. How's the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis? We could eat the very first ice cream cones. Or maybe see Freddie Mercury and Queen at Wembley Stadium. Roboolore is a lot of fun if you're into weird circus acts that are on fire all the time… it's a bit like Cirque du Soleil actually…"

"What are you on about?" she asked. He rambled, like no one she'd ever seen ramble before. In fact, she had the oddest feeling that he was like that a lot. "Wait… dungeons, Wembley, 1904… are you like magic or something?"

"Well, I do have a box," he explained, "It travels in space and time, my box does… When they've all gone, it's just me and her, the last remnants of my people."

"The Time Lords?" she asked. He nodded. "So, what are you a doctor of? I don't think its veterinary medicine and you're probably not a podiatrist."

He laughed. "No, I'm not a podiatrist. I have a doctorate in cheese making actually…" he joked. "I'm just the Doctor. Always have been… it was kind of the thing back when I was in the Academy. The Prydonian Chapter, where I went to school, had the highest rate of renegade Time Lords. My enemy, the Master, was a renegade because he was a psychopathic homicidal madman. And there were others too; the Rani enslaved Miasimia Goria. The War Chief tried to recruit Nazis to do his bidding. The Monk meddled in history to make everything go his way… and I was a renegade because I chose to travel and see the universe."

It didn't seem warranted to Rena. "That doesn't make you really worthy of the label," she told him.

He looked over to her. "You've just met me. How'd you know that?" he asked. He rummaged in his inside jacket pocket, looking for something to speed them along.

"I don't know," she stumbled. "You don't look like a renegade of anything. You look like a caring guy," she told him. He looked over at her, peering into her with his ancient eyes. She remembered her old friend even more. "Your eyes are older than the rest of you. You're not a renegade. You're brilliant." Her voice and mind wandered, thinking of a bowtie of all things.

He looked at her, recalling his own dismissal and exile from Gallifrey. "I'm dangerous. I was a renegade because I went out and tried to make everything better. I've meddled in history hundreds of times more than the Monk ever thought to... Blimey, how long is this lift?" he rhetorically asked. He pulled his silver Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket, pointing it at the lift controls. "You see? This is me meddling," he said, making the end of the Sonic glow blue with a whirr.

In an instant, the lift started faster, arriving at their level in no time at all. "Well, that's not bad," Rena assured him, "You sped up a lift. How is that meddling?" She went inside and turned back, looking at the interesting Doctor. The Time Lord stood looking at her; he'd wait for the next lift. "What are you waiting for? We've got to go and play _The Immortal_."

The Doctor smiled at her again as he tucked his Screwdriver away. At least for a bit, he'd have someone to share the adventure with. He stepped inside, looking at the floor chooser for games starting with an 'I'. "You know, there's a saying. It's very ancient and it gives strength and calms nerves in time of distress… or if one is heading into a 16-bit dungeon…"

"What's that?" she asked. Her tone now was enthusiastic, not at all teenager-ish as it had been before.

He pressed the floor selector for 'I', and then looked to her with a grin. "Allons-y," he told her.

Her look was vacant as she stared at him. Eventually, a single eyebrow rose. "What's that mean?" she asked, shaking her head.

"Boy, the schools are really failing. They don't even teach basic French?" he asked her.

"Uh, hello, we're speaking Greek," she told him, as if it should have been plainly obvious to both of them.

The Doctor crumpled his brow, looking at Rena. She'd been speaking in English. Her accent made her sound like she was from the Cotswolds. Even the band being advertised on the shirt under her coat was in English, albeit red and sparkly English. Then, the answer dawned on him. "Oh, I'm thick!" he exclaimed. Rena was buffaloed. "Of course you're speaking Greek! The TARDIS Translation matrix is making it sound English for me. That makes perfect sense… the tee shirt, Cotswolds accent…" She still looked completely lost. "Sorry, you just sound English to me," he told her.

"Whatever," she said. "Just push the button so we can go check out this dungeon game," she insisted. He pressed out 'IM' on the keypad, letting the auto-fill complete 'IMMORTAL, THE' for him. The lift started down, picking up speed as they careened down the shaft to the proper section.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The lift had deposited the Time Lord and his new companion in a tiny, square room. A wooden door stood ahead of them. To their right, a well was sunken into the ground and a candle stood on a ledge running the diameter of the well. "Cool," Rena approvingly remarked, drinking in the dungeon feel. A 16-bit baroque song played in a minor key, setting the medieval, magical mood. Rena's punk Goth dress was right at home in the old dank dungeon where Trolls and Goblins battled. She slowly approached the dancing flame atop the candle. It extinguished itself, and a shaven figure appeared in a rush of candle smoke.

She found this face comforting, yet was afraid of it. She also felt her heart flutter a bit. "Who's that?" Rena asked, stepping back. The face wasn't of an old wizard, but of a young man, one of whom she found very attractive.

The Doctor moved up behind her, bracing against her. "That's Mordamir. He's the one were here to rescue," he informed. "But Mordamir doesn't look at all like that. He's supposed to be older with sad eyes and a beard…"

The smoke mouth began to move and a voice boomed in the small room. "Dunric, you have come to rescue me. I am in the dungeons far below. I know I can count on you…" the smoke voice recorded in 1991 said.

"Spooky," Rena said with an excited tone in her voice. She turned back to the Doctor. "But who's Dunric?" she asked.

"He's the other warrior who came looking for Mordamir," the Doctor explained. "But now he's gone and we'll have to find him too. It's ironic that they called this game _The Immortal, _because there are more things in these dungeons that can kill you than I've ever seen in a real dungeon." Rena looked shocked at his revelation, wondering what kind of man she'd paired herself with. "Well, here it's not death, I suppose. Just restarts or we get spat back into the lift." She let out a relieved gasp. "C'mon, let's get to it," he said, taking her hand.

The pair started for the door. Off to their left, one tile out of thousands in the floor shifted and caught Rena's attention. "Hey, what's that?" she asked, breaking away from him.

"Rena, no!" the Doctor called out. He yanked her back by the wrist as the tile gave way to a hideous, giant, white worm jetting up from the level below. Its mandible opened, revealing rows of horrible Time Lord and companion crushing teeth. It was a fearsome creature, angry and malicious; just as it'd been programmed to be. The sectioned beast let out a guttural growl as the Doctor gave a shove to his companion, pushing themselves back the well and out of harm's way.

The Doctor looked on, feeling both hearts beating in 16-bit excitement. Rena cowered behind the stone circle and candle. "What now?" she asked, her breathing growing heavy and energized.

"Run!" he said, grabbing her by the hand and starting for the heavy wooden door. The door swung open, then shut just as quickly.

Their pulses raced as the ambient music changed. One minor keyed song was changed for another, but there was no sectioned worm of death here to eat them. "I always hated those worms," the Doctor revealed. To their right, leaned against the wall, were a sword and a staff with a purple crystal at one end. "Oh good; our tools," the Doctor remarked, picking up the sword and handing the staff to his companion.

"What was that worm thing?" Rena asked, her heart still pounding. She examined the staff he'd given her, wondering what on Earth it was used for.

The Doctor admired the sword in his hand. The last time he'd taken up a sword was to stop the Sycorax invasion of Earth, just before eating Christmas dinner with Rose, Jackie and Mickey. He missed his friends terribly, but then looked up to his new companion. It comforted him that he had someone new to share an adventure with, even a 16-bit adventure. "That worm was one of the many things in this dungeon that can kill us. I mean, they programmed over thirty death animations alone when most games of the time only had one. So, do what I tell you, when I tell you, and we should be okay."

Rena's gaze wandered again, looking at the dark stone walls and tiled floor. "Oh my god," she said, leaving the door and jetting across the room.

"I didn't tell you to do that," the Doctor said, following. He soon reached her, just across the room. She'd found a fighter, clad in metal armor, slain and bloodied on the floor. "Rena, stay calm," he advised, going and placing a supporting hand on the girl's shoulders.

"What happened to him?" she asked, tears nearly in her eyes.

The Doctor looked over the man's wounds; they'd been made with a heavy mace, as only one species in the dungeon used. "He's been on the bad end of a Goblin attack," the Doctor told her. He knelt down next to the man, rolling him over. The fighter's hand fell open, dropping a golden ring onto the ground; the Doctor picked it up. "Dunric's," it says, he told her, reading the name inscribed on the golden band. He handed it to his companion, letting her examine it.

Rena knelt down too. "Is that Dunric?" she asked, looking back and forth between the ring and the man. "You said we have to save him," Rena reminded.

"This isn't Dunric," the Doctor told her. "He's in a dungeon below this one. I don't think the programmers named this poor fellow. For that matter, they didn't name the character we're playing either," he told her. He rummaged over the body again, finding a pouch of putrid smelling bait, 20 gold pieces and a scroll with three fire spells. "Well, best get on. I did play this bit on Sega when it first came out. We've got to keep moving."

Rena stood, but still looked at the body. "Shouldn't we say something? I mean, it's disrespectful to just leave him here," she argued.

The Doctor smiled at her, knowing that the girl's heart must have been huge. "Rena, I know it's incredibly sad. I know you want to give this man a proper send off, one worthy of someone who'd willingly come into this dungeon. But remember, it's a game. This man is just lines of code in a 16-bit adventure game made in 1991 by a bloke named Will." Her gaze moved from the dead fighter to the Doctor. "If we want to honor the memory of someone, we do it by beating the game and making sure that he wasn't programmed to be dead in vain."

She reached out, tying herself around the Time Lord in a very-un-teenager show of affection. She felt both hearts beating beneath his chest. "Time Lords have two hearts. I didn't know that," she admitted. "Thanks," she told him, standing back. He squinted at her. "For everything…" she felt the urge to tell him.

The Doctor, for once, had no idea what she was talking about. "Right," he agreed, somewhat off put, "Best to keep moving." He broke their embrace, took her hand and led the way into an adjacent room. Off ahead of them was a treasure chest, no doubt full of useful items and to their right in the shadows was a duel taking place.

Both the Doctor and Rena could make out the shape of a green man with pointed ears. A heavy mace glinted in the ambient light; no doubt this was a Goblin. The mace swung wildly, for sure engaging someone in combat. "We've got to go and help the guy who the Goblin is fighting. He's vital to the story," the Doctor spoke, leaning towards young Rena.

"So you've played up to this part before?" Rena asked. She stayed behind him, putting him between her and anything that might harm her.

"Oh yeah," the Time Lord assured her, "I mean provided you don't die in the first room, this bit's easy." He led on into the darkness. A flash of flame ignited Goblin, burning him slowly into a pile of ashes. When they came into clear view, both the Time Lord and companion could see the slaughtered effluence of a deceased Goblin at the feet of a warrior. They both looked at the character, but this one, like Mordamir, was wrong. "Now, hold on. You're not Ulindor," the Doctor protested.

"Yes I am," the game character protested. He stood tall and majestic, wearing a bronze chest plate and shin guards over a gladiator's robe. His sword was something of Greek or Roman origin; short and wielded by a single hand. The flesh on his free hand sizzled as the heat used to burn the Goblin subsided. "I see that you have come," the wrong Ulindor recited from the lines of code written so long ago. "You must rescue Mordamir! He is captive many levels below. The entrance to the lower levels is hidden. Here is a key you will need. I must go now… I forgive you…" he added. The warrior handed the Doctor a key, then disappeared a flash of light.

The Time Lord looked at the key in his hand, then where the wrong game sprite stood. "Well, they've got the dialogue right, mostly. All but that forgiveness bit… and the sprites are all wrong," he said, turning around to his companion. Rena had a most puzzled look on her face. "You okay?" he asked her.

Her mind searched frantically, trying to find where the face of that game sprite belonged. "I swear I've seen that man before," she told her new friend. "I can't picture where, but I know I've seen him." Her mind raced with images of her childhood, where she knew that warrior belonged. But alas, she still could not place him.

The Doctor watched her; curious about what type of person he'd been paired with. "How do you know you've seen him before?" he asked, forgetting about the game temporarily. He peered deep into her, trying to get a read on her with his 900 year old eyes.

She nervously looked over the Doctor, hesitant to admit anything. "I don't know," she revealed, "Just a feeling I guess. Like, you know the feeling you get when you see your best mate? It's that sort of giddy, eager feeling with butterflies in the stomach like you've got a million things to tell them…"

"I know the feeling," he said, thinking of his mate Donna. "Is that what you felt when you saw the game character?" She nodded that she did. "Well, maybe he means something to you. That is the second time the game has been wrong. Mordamir in the candle smoke was supposed to be an old bearded wizard. But he appeared to be much younger and clean shaven… did you feel anything when you saw him?" he asked.

Rena blushed. "Sort of," she admitted, faltering. "I felt… excited… like I'd been in love with him. But I don't know who he is." The image of the man made her heart race, for reasons unknown to her.

The Doctor thought about what Rena had told him. "I wonder what else is going to go wrong?" he asked, doing his best to remember the time he played it on Sega ages ago. "Well, the fighter had gold on him, and wasn't supposed to. And there was supposed to be a Goblin that ambushed us as soon as we exited the first room… someone's been mucking with the programming."

The Doctor started for the wall, leveling his sword. Rena watched as he drove the blade into the wall, dragging it lengthwise across the faux stones. He then tore a section of completely modern electro-mimetic cloth from the skeleton of the scaffold-like game state. The cloth sparked and fizzled as the room around them fragmented then turned to a dull brown static. He dropped the sword and replaced it with another silver tool, his Sonic Screwdriver. He yanked a mass of cable from the wall, using his Screwdriver to find out if anything had been messed with.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong," the Doctor reported. Rena joined his side, curious what he'd found. "This is all… wrong. Someone's spliced modern bio-scanning equipment into the game's architecture. It's like someone rigged this so that the sprites in the game would be unique to whoever used it…" he said.

"But these people… we don't know who they are," Rena told him.

"Yes, I think you do," the Doctor told her, putting the circuitry away and fusing the electro-mimetic cloth back together with his Screwdriver. She looked at him, a vacancy in her eyes. "You must," he insisted. "Somewhere, someplace buried deep in your mind, these people exist. The men who replaced Ulindor and Mordamir are actual people that mean something to you… but why can't you remember them? You loved the one who replaced Mordamir. Now, speaking only for myself, I couldn't ever forget anyone I was ever in love with. And why was Ulindor dressed in gladiator garb?"

Rena had no idea at all. "I don't know," she admitted, looking lost.

The Doctor, being so kind and caring throughout his entire life, picked up on the girl's distress immediately. "Hey," he sympathetically told her, "We'll find out together. My whole life I've always sort of ended up wherever I needed to be, and I think that's happened again. You need to find out who these people are and I can help you."

"I hope so," Rena admitted. She stopped and then gazed into him, feeling only awash with good feelings. She was overcome with a silly feeling, seeing in her mind's eye a bowtie and Stetson. She looked into his old eyes. They were older than the rest of him, just like her friend from long ago. She stared at them, recognizing something that she'd long forgotten. "No. I know so," she told him, "You're the Doctor, and I trust you."

The vote of confidence brought a smile to the Time Lord's face. "Well good," he told her. "Now, I think that if for some reason you and I were meant to meet so I can help you, it's obviously linked to this game somehow."

"How'd you know that?" Rena asked him.

He grinned at her. "I know because we're here, right now, doing exactly what we need to. One thing I've learned about fate… destiny, whatever you want to call it, it's that often times whatever it's doing is right… despite how much it may hurt. I mean sometimes you have to wipe your best friend's memory to save her life, or wave goodbye to old friends who have to have their own adventure or leave the girl you love on a beach in Norway. But that's the price you pay so that they can have normal lives…" His last comment faded as he spoke. "Or you have to disappear into a dark, deep, scary dungeon to help a girl you've just met."

She gave him a once over, not sure what he was talking about. She was curious, but more curious about why she was having emotions about video game characters. "Best get going?" she asked.

"Yep," the Doctor agreed. He put the Sonic away, returned the sword to its normal position then reached out, taking her hand. He led them past the slain fighter to another wooden door. "Now, there should be a Goblin out here that we'll have to fight. Once we get past him, there's a chest with some gold and a bottle in it. We'll need all that," he explained.

"Right," Rena agreed, putting full faith in the Time Lord. She watched as he reached forward, giving a yank on the brass ring door pull. The old wooden threshold opened up, allowing both of them to pass through. Rena's stomach tied up in knots as they continued; the adventure alone was thrilling, but that coupled with the mystery of who these mystery game sprites were was playing havoc with her.

The textures of the walls hadn't changed in this new room, the Doctor noted, which is something else that the game had gotten wrong. Instead of the normal cut stone walls and flagstone floors, the floor here should have been a white tile affair with black accents. Every version of the game; Apple IIgs, Sega, Amiga and PC were all like that, the only exception begin the Nintendo Entertainment System and it's paltry 8-bit processor. And the layout was wrong too. The door to the next room littered with arrow traps should have been right ahead of them, not more than six feet away. Now, the room was incredibly deep and dark. And there was no goblin to fight. "Well, my foreknowledge isn't going to do much good if the game keeps changing on me," the Doctor admitted.

"Maybe that's good," Rena spoke. She looked around at the bleak room, finding the Doctor the only comfort. "Foreknowledge can be dangerous," she pointed out.

She was more right than she realized. "Yes, it can be," he agreed, thinking of his own impending demise according to the Ood. A tug on his arm brought him back to the dungeon from the snowy and cold Planet of the Ood. "What is it?" he asked.

"Over there… that thing," Rena pointed. Off in the darkness stood a creature, one not of a human or Goblin. This was scaly with brown skin and curled horns atop its head. They could see a long, slender sword in one hand. As they started for it, they could see the weapon disappear for a moment; it was thrust into a figure tied to the wall.

"It's a Troll," the Doctor said, recognizing their aggressor.

Rena looked at it. The Troll was hideous, easily more disgusting than the Goblin. Its skin was uninviting and looked like the Great Horned Devil that was so often tied to religions all across the stars, with the exception that the Troll didn't have cloven hoofs. Her stare moved to the face. Again, this one had the face of the man who appeared in the candle smoke as Mordamir.

The Doctor noticed the face too. "Give me the staff," he requested reaching out. She handed it to him as the Troll reached them. Rena stepped back, moving away from the Troll. The ugly brown Troll slashed at the Time Lord with a thin bladed rapier. "This is what the staff is for," he told her, using the purple rod to deflect sword blows. She watched, rooting for the Doctor to dispatch the Troll. "Go and help the guy on the wall. I'll handle this bloke," the Doctor assured her. He dodged slashes and swings, letting the Troll tire itself out.

Rena took a double take at the Troll. She then did as the Doctor instructed, going to the chained man at the wall. Blood trickled from the abdomen of the stab victim, collecting in a puddle on the floor. The man lifted his head, seeing who had come to save him. Rena was then awash with feelings at seeing him. Her heart swelled as she knew nothing but love and admiration when she saw him. His hair was dark and curly and he had a look about him, one of concern… a father's look.

"I… I know you," the character struggled to speak. Rena listened, unsure if the man was reciting the dialogue or actually speaking to her. She craned in, looking at him more intently. "In here, I'm supposed to reveal myself as Dunric… servant to… Mordamir… but you know who I am. In the depths of your heart, you know exactly who I am and why you're here." His dying and tired eyes looked up, "You've brought the Doctor to help… good…" he looked back at the teen girl. "I forgive you…" He exhaled one final breath and then his head dropped, never to rise again.

Rena took a step backward. That wasn't dialogue the man was speaking, it was him… whoever he was. She felt incredibly sad at seeing him pass, even though that may have just been a normal reaction; she was also sad at finding the dead fighter in the second room. She dwelled on the man's message about bringing the Doctor. What did he mean? How could a computer sprite know anything about him or her. And what was the bit about forgiveness?

The glowing crystal at the end of the staff crashed into the horned skull of the Troll, sending him careening to the ground in an unconscious heap. The Doctor was triumphant, and didn't even need to spill the blood of the electronic Troll with the wrong face. "Ha, I learned that trick in Sherwood Forest from a bloke called Littlejohn… Rena, are you okay?" he asked, moving to his new companion.

Her look was still distraught, and now with a touch of sadness added in. "No," she bluntly told him. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. The Time Lord dropped his weapons, wiping tears away from her. "It's all gone wrong," she told him, clutching onto him. "This is me… somehow, someway… this is me," she insisted between quiet sobs into his suit. "Help me Doctor."

As the plea fell upon him, he grimaced in pain again. The pain stabbed through him, him having to push Rena away and clutch his stomach. It was a familiar pain; the pain from before was back. He gnashed his teeth together and his eyes felt like they were about to pop out from his skull. The gut wrench was far more intense this time, as if someone was physically twisting on his insides. "This is really getting old," he protested, dropping to the ground.

Rena's sobs stopped immediately, seeing her friend in agony. "What is it? Those Ood things again?" she nervously asked. She too fell to her knees, putting her hands on his shoulders and doing her best to steady the Doctor. She didn't mind the unconscious troll or the dead man who struck such a chord with her; her primary concern was the Doctor. "Tell me what it is, Doctor. If you want to help me, I need to be able to help you. I can't do this without you!" she pleaded.

He looked up, seeing a distraught teenage girl in need of help. Help that only he could provide. Regaining focus, he summoned his own energy, using every psychic trick he knew to block the source of the pain. He pushed and pushed, pitting his own will up against whoever was trying to get the better of him.

His mind's eye left the world he was on, taking him through space and time. He looked ahead, seeing an old palace, and the Earth rising in the sky. The place was dusty and desolate. The voice was emanating from where there should have been none. He shot inside the palace, to a long hallway adorned with carvings set into the walls. He could see that the one calling out was a small girl. She had dark hair and was dressed in a school uniform. She kept her head in her chest, calling for the same thing over and over again. "Help me Doctor," he could hear her pleading.

Trying his best to reach out from his mind, he put a hand on her shoulder, hoping to calm her. "I will," he told the crying child. His eyes shot open, finding Rena standing next to him. They were still in the dank dungeon, but his gut was no longer hurting.

"Where'd you go?" she asked him. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," he assured her, standing up. He stretched and checked himself over. "Okay, two problems; the first is you. We've got to see why this game's been altered specifically to you. Second… do you fancy a trip to the moon?" he asked, remembering the fantastic Earthrise.

"Maybe," she said, having no idea what he was even talking about or if he was serious. "Um, maybe once we're done here. I'd like to know why I'm feeling like I do," she told him. "Wait, Earth's moon? The original?"

"Yes the original… and we will figure this out," the Time Lord assured her, brushing dust from his pant legs. "I told you I wouldn't give up on you. And I'm not about to. We're closer to the end than the beginning," he revealed, looking around the dungeon. "Oh, they've killed Dunric, or a close approximation," he squealed. "Did you give him his ring back?"

She looked over to the corpse, then back at the Time Lord. "He said he was supposed to be Dunric. But he wasn't. He said I knew who he was." The Doctor stepped over to the body, examining the face. "He seemed to know who you were. And he forgave me…"

"Forgave you? For what?" the Time Lord asked. Rena nodded that she didn't know. He looked over the man's long nose and curled hair and moustache. "Do you feel anything about him?"

"Warm," Rena replied, recalling the face, but not bloodied or dying. "He made me feel warm, and safe."

"I see," the Doctor told her, putting on his brainy specs from his pocket. He examined the man's hair and features. "It's all very Greek. His nose, hair… Ulindor's dress… and even you; you're speaking Greek." He looked around at the dungeon. "Blimey, we've skipped about seven levels. This is right toward the end. We should go down a ladder, have to fight Ulindor, then it's on to fight the dragon."

"A dragon?" Rena asked, "I thought we were here to rescue Mordamir?"

The Doctor put his glasses away then reached out, taking his friend's hand again. They stopped temporarily, getting the staff and sword again. "Well, in the story, Mordamir appeared in the character's dream calling out for him to come be saved. He was supposedly at the bottom of a dungeon like this one. Now, as the game progresses, you're character is supposed to take naps on these straw mats and that advances the story. Basically, Mordamir is a total despot. He's made some sort of pact or something to eradicate this peaceful race of dragons, but one dragon escaped and is hiding in this dungeon.

"Now, at the beginning of the game you're supposed to pick up this amulet which gives the owner control of the dragon. In the dragon's lair, you and Mordamir fight over the amulet using magic spells. In the end, you get it back and the dragon roasts Mordamir. You're then saved by Dunric's daughter Ana, who hasn't appeared yet either… "

"This is all very confusing," Rena admitted, following in the dark room. "Wait, why don't we have the amulet?" she asked.

"We don't have it because we skipped from the beginning to right down here," he explained. It now made sense for Rena. "You know, at the time, _The Immortal_ was groundbreaking. Detailed story with alternate endings, a billion things to kill you, vague directions, thirty death animations… it was beloved by those who played it," the Doctor told her.

"So will surviving the dragon help me? Will this ending help me remember who these people are?" she asked.

"I don't know," he admitted. "We can't control the dragon because we don't have the amulet, and Dunric was supposed to give us fire protection spells to use against the dragon. Near as I can tell, as soon as we fall into that pit, we're toast… literally." He stopped and turned back, trying to gauge Rena's reaction.

The teen girl pondered it. She recalled what he'd said earlier, about fate running its course and it usually for the better. The bit about the dragon made no sense to her, but for some reason, his invitation to the Moon seemed as if it had promise. A dusty world seemed so much better than what she was feeling right now. "Let's go," she decided, reaffirming her positive attitude.

He grinned at her. "Now, if you'd been speaking French, that would have come out Allons-y," he told her. She smiled, finally getting his little slogan. "Let's go and find a dragon."

The pair went hand over hand to a ladder and down it to an empty room. There were no Trolls or Goblins or danger of being eaten by a hideous worm of death. The Doctor knew how the story ended. He led her to a loose section of floor. He reached out, holding onto her. "Close your eyes and listen to my voice," he instructed. "Just hold on."

A few moments passed of her just hanging on. She clutched him tightly, listening to his dual hearts pounding away in his chest. Her mind cleared suddenly, as if she remembered a memento she carried in her pocket from long ago. She knew it had to do with Mordamir and Dunric and all the wrong game sprites. She removed it from her own pocket and slid it into the Doctor's.

Suddenly the floor gave way, dropping them twenty feet down into a chasm. She screamed as they fell, clinging onto the Doctor. Their landing was abrupt and harsh; they'd been stopped by one of several stone plateaus jetting up from the bottom of the abyss. The sword broke from the grasp and continued downward. Ahead of them a rumble from deep below unsettled the Earth. Then a second one fell upon them. Slowly, like a golem or phoenix of ancient stories, a giant lava beast rose from the place where the dragon should have been. "Well, that's wrong too," he commented, disgusted with the terrible game play replication. "Too bad I left my water pistol in my other suit," he told her.

Rena's eyes opened and then shut immediately. Fear gripped her very soul. It was a deadening, crippling fear. She knew instantly where the lava beast had come from. She'd seen it in her dreams, like images and memories long forgotten were reasserting themselves in her mind. "We have to go," she whispered. "We need to go now!" she screamed.

The Doctor looked at her, unsure of how she had a relationship with a lava beast. A ball of gooey molten lava shot from the hand of the beast, smashing into their plateau. However, they disappeared, just an instant before death.

The piercing wail shattered space and time, transporting them across the stars and to the future; to the Doctor's future. In less than one Planck time, he found himself in an old palace, not at all on Nova Atar. There was no teenage girl clutching his chest, in fact, he could hardly recall meeting Rena. There were only faint images.

The Doctor wandered in the darkness. The construction was like nothing he'd seen ever, but did recall similarities to ancient Greek architecture. He approached a window, looking out on a beautiful Earth shining in the sky. "Blimey, I'm on the Moon," he remarked, amazed. "And I'm breathing?" He stuck his tongue out, tasting the air as he licked over his teeth and gums. "Mostly nitrogen, some oxygen, one and a bit of other stuff… that's normal Earth atmosphere," he realized. "Who'd fill the Moon with air?"

Earthlight fell on the stone carvings in the walls. He turned around to examine them. The story detailed a young princess that lived on the moon and her parents, who were apparently mighty gods. The face of the girl looked like an older version of a face that he knew, but couldn't remember where from. One of the gods had the face of the man called Dunric from the old Sega Genesis game _The Immortal. _One of the other gods was dressed as Ulindor, one of Mordamir's servants from the game. It was a mystery to him how people from a 1991 Sega Genesis game made their way onto carvings on the walls of an ancient moon palace.

He continued, seeing another figure in the stones. He was represented in the planet Earth and had the face of Mordamir, the old wizard from the game. He was handsome and shaven; it was a face that should have been on every gaming magazine in 1991. Simple lines of code or not, he was that handsome of a man. The Time Lord continued down the corridor, looking at the walls as he went.

A few small sobs caught his attention, tearing him away from the carvings to a small girl on the ground. He had followed the story to a chamber containing a huge staircase leading upwards to what he could only guess was the Princess' balcony and bedroom. The girl sat at the foot of the stairway. He stepped lightly, not wanting to startle her. He recalled her dark hair and school uniform from someplace, feeling a bit like déjà vu. "Hello there," he said gingerly, inching towards her. The girl looked up, and then let out a scream. "No, no, no," he pleaded. "You don't have to do that," he insisted, waving open hands at her.

The girl stopped screaming, looking up into his eyes. Her frenzied voice now emanated calm. She stood and stepped up to him. "They're the same," she said, peering at him. She moved side to side, examining him. "Your eyes… so old… they're exactly the same…" she repeated. She scanned his clothes, memorizing every inch of the man before her.

"Same as what?" the Doctor asked, looking curiously at her.

Their moment was interrupted. A strange man in short pants, a tweed jacket with a bowtie and a Stetson came bumbling in. He stopped when he saw his tiny friend talking to the Doctor. "Blimey, this is bad…" he muttered, seeing the Time Lord.


	5. Chapter 5

Floppy ears, Leather coat and Tunic – The Ninth Doctor Chapter 5

Darkness. The Doctor could only feel darkness. Emptiness and Darkness. And cold. The cold of metal.

Then, light. "Well, I've got eyes," he remarked, opening them for the first time. "Eyes are good." He looked up from the floor of the TARDIS console room, noting the large number of cables hanging and dangling everywhere. "Well, that's a mess. What's happened to you? You've changed," he told it.

He stood up, leaving the hard metal floor. "Well, fair enough, I suppose I have too," he conceded, talking to the Box. He looked over his body. "Knees, I've got knees," he said, feeling them. His hands worked upward, but not before being noticed. "And hands… and a face… short hair… probably not ginger… again," he said, running his figure through his new mane. "And my voice," he said, talking like he'd come from the North. "I should be driving a Reliant Robin with this voice… pies and gravy…" he said, testing his accent. He shrugged. "Well, not the worst I've ever had I suppose."

He strolled up the metal grates in the floor, to the TARDIS console. "Well look at you. You're all organic looking. Is that the coral desktop theme? I quite like that," he admitted, looking at his brand new TARDIS. "What about me? What do I look like?" he asked, spinning around looking for something that wasn't there.

In the TARDIS, as it was before, sat his easy chair and ottoman, gramophone, and a mirrored bureau with candles. Now, there was no chair, no ottoman, no gramophone and no mirror. "Well, bugger. I'll have to wait and see what I ended up with this time…"

His gaze turned downward, looking at the clothes he'd been born into. "Green velvet jacket, ascot, pleated pants… what am I wearing?" he asked. "This looks like a Halloween costume…" His gaze moved back to the Time Rotor. "Well, where've you put the wardrobe? These clothes are dreadful." He peered around the Time Rotor, looking down a corridor leading to the multistory wardrobe. "Well done," he told the box, headed for the wardrobe.

He peeled the velvet jacket from himself, putting it on one of the millions of hangers lining the wardrobe. The jacket was hung with the utmost care, amidst a rack of jackets of all shapes and colors. The Victorian looking shirt joined the shirts, and a purple tunic was removed. "That's better," he said, pulling the shirt over his head.

"And pants are… down there," he said, eyeing a ladder down to several levels below him. He climbed down and stopped off at the pant section and replaced the pleated ones with a standard pair of black pants. "Shoes?" he asked himself, choosing from another rack. Black leather shoes completed the look, and the Doctor was quite proud of himself when finished. "Well that feels better," he told himself, "But something's still wrong… supposing its cold out. I'll need a jacket."

He went back to the rack where he'd left the green velvet, and looked over his options. There was a red sports jacket, like one James Dean had worn, a standard off-the-rack lime green affair, and a tweed jacket with leather elbow pads. "The tweed's nice, but I'm not feeling it. Need something with some flair, some pizzazz… something…" He then saw it. "Something a bit Fonzie…"

The leather jacket hung over his new shoulders perfectly. The look felt perfect, absolutely perfect, but alas, there was still no mirror for him to check himself over in. "What sort of wardrobe doesn't have a mirror? What a bunch of…" he spoke, before doubling over. He dropped to his knees, in complete anguish.

Pain shot through every cell of his new body. The regeneration was still occurring, even as he tried on his new clothes and would continue for 15 hours after initial regeneration started. Particle energy coursed through his veins as he tried his best to expend the remaining energy. A pang of distress came with his regeneration pain; a new feeling he never felt before. He breathed deep, focusing on drawing the energy away from him. He let out an exhale, breathing out a shimmery golden smoke.

He stood up, confident the pain was over, at least temporarily. "That was weird," he said, dwelling on the strange feeling that overcame him. "I've done that eight times and I've never felt that before… oh well, the nature of violent regenerations I suppose. I reckon we should go and find out if anyone else survived…."

He climbed out of the wardrobe, returning to the main level and out to the control room. The strange feeling left a haunting imprint on his soul; one not easily shaken. "Boy that was weird," he remarked to the Time Rotor. "Any idea what that weird feeling was?" he asked, thinking that his old blue box might have some insight. It didn't respond. "Me neither… probably due to the war… anyone left besides me?" he asked, spinning the space time visualizer to him. "President Rassilon? Romana maybe? The Corsair? Heck, I'd even take the Master."

He fiddled with the buttons, trying to pick up any signs of Time Lord Capsules besides himself. His gaze grew wide, seeing nothing but the blackness of space filling his monitor. "Hmm, maybe if the universe was smaller," he spoke. He jumped around, plotting a course back in time, back nearly as far as the beginning of time. If there were other Time Lords left, it'd be easier to find them in a tiny universe. The Time Rotor screeched and wailed, the sound not changing at all since the new desktop theme was added. The old sounds were comforting in the new TARDIS.

The Time Rotor ceased and the Doctor returned to the space time visualizer, excited and eager to see some semblance of his people dotting the small universe. Still, the screen was blank. His eagerness dripped away and was replaced by a sense of loss.

"Gone. They're all gone…" He contemplated the gravity of it.

"They can't all be gone, can they?" he asked the old box, feeling alone. He moved around, resolute, hopeful and fiddling with the controls. "Maybe if we try somewhere like 10 billion, maybe there's some out there…" He tripped the Time Rotor again, shooting him off to the future. The ride was much bumpier than he remembered; certainly bumpier than during the Time War. The wail subsided as he arrived. He punched the buttons on the visualizer again. The readout was not good news.

"It's… it's just me… the daft old man and his stolen TARDIS… only me. The Doctor, last of the Time Lords." He thought about it, realizing that he was indeed the last of his race. "Just me… the only one left. Me and you…" he told the box. "Gone are the seal of Rassilon and the citadel and the high council… my granddaughter Susan… It's only me."

Tears formed in the corners of the Doctor's eyes. They trailed down his cheeks as he thought of his people. The mightiest and wisest civilization the universe had known had fallen. And at his hand. "It's not my fault… the war… it perverted them. It perverted me," he pleaded, "Rassilon was mad in the last days… I couldn't let any of them go… I couldn't," he urged the old box. His lip quaked thinking of them all. Every adventure, every place he'd ever been with anyone special to him, any past life of his own, they simply no longer existed, erased by the Time Lock. From now on, they only found refuge in his memory. "I'll never forget any of you…" he pledged, remembering those lost.

His sorrow grew, remembering hunting down the Key to Time with Romana, being elected Lord President twice and stopping Omega from destroying the universe… it was all gone. He remembered his first adventure with his granddaughter Susan on Earth in 1963, and then all the wonderful places he'd seen since then. He was so old then, but ironically so young at the same time. And now, they were all gone. He remembered his first and second regenerations passing.

Then he remembered Skaro.

He and Sarah Jane and Harry Sullivan on Skaro; the Genesis of the Daleks.

His sorrow was soon replaced with anger. The tears ran dry and were soon replaced by the fury only a Time Lord knew. "Those stinking Daleks... You know, it is my fault; I should have ended them when I had the chance!" he stood and paraded around the console. "All I had to do was fire the explosives! No more Daleks! Billions of people saved… but I couldn't do it… I should have! I let those stupid Daleks live and now because of them, my people are gone!"

He crashed back to the floor, in pain again. He clutched his stomach, bearing the pain as his new cells settled. He was like a pot of stew on the boil; turbulent and tumultuous with nothing set. His strange feeling returned. It was one of loneliness and despair.

Again he exhaled a golden haze of smoke, letting the feeling pass with it. It exited him, and for once, he felt relief. He stood, looking around and having the distinct impression that the feeling might return, as long as he still remembered everything from the War, if indeed that was the cause.

On standing, he felt renewed. The anger dripped away from him. Everything about his body was new; face, frame, hair, even his outlook on everything. While he was still a grizzled old war veteran, he had the oddest feeling that he was very prone to seeking out the wonders of the universe. In this incarnation, he felt himself to be a man of extremes; such fury and outrage towards what he had done, or what the war made him do, but he also carried a huge sense of wonderment, as if it was the youngest he'd ever been before, almost like he was back in the beginning.

A strange growly noise fell on him, one not usually associated with TARDIS running. He looked around, trying to find the cause. It happened again. He looked down, finding the source. "Oh… I must be hungry," he said, patting his stomach, "I think I fancy some chips." He moved up to the console and set his course for Earth, roundabout 2005.

The Time Rotor screeched and wailed, rocking the old Police Box around in the Time Vortex. The ride was still bumpy, a feature that his new self found refreshing and old at the same time. Piloting the old blue box seemed much more labor intensive this time as well, him having to move around to keep the controls spot on to reach his destination. It was good the armchair and ottoman were gone; he'd have no time to sit in them. He looked up at the Time Rotor, smiling as it wailed away; the happy old man and his box.

The trip to 2005 from the year 10 billion was a swift one, because ever since the beginning the Doctor always seemed to know the way to Earth. It was his second home. The Time Lords exiled him there after they cast him from their society during his second incarnation, forcing regeneration into his third self.

He loved the Earth; the people, the air, the mountains. It was a trait he inherited from his granddaughter. Born on Gallifrey ages ago as Arkytior, she was the Doctor's first companion. She took the name Susan on Earth in 1963 to blend in, deeming her High Gallifreyan name, which meant Rose in their native language, would make her stand out. She enrolled at a school in London simply to mingle with the humans of the period and study them.

It was then that the Doctor first came to love humanity. Susan's curiosity brought two of her teachers onto the TARDIS, and it was then that the Doctor realized that humans weren't just low apes of some third world. Susan's teachers Barbra and Ian constantly impressed him, which grew into admiration for the whole species. In fact, he had more human companions than he did of any other species. Over the years he had quite the collection; probably close to a hundred of his closest friends were humans. But now they were gone, and those who weren't certainly wouldn't know the fate suffered by the Doctor's people.

He'd have to start new. Find some human who understands him and his magic Police Box. And they were out there, he had no doubt. "Well, let's see what 2005 is like," he said as the TARDIS came to a halt. He started for the door, which for the first time was connected directly to the outside of the box.

"Wait a minute," he said, stopping. He turned back to the console. "I burned out my Sonic Screwdriver sealing that Time Lock. I need a new one." He strolled up to the console, knowing the old Box heard him. A winding noise emanated from a sunken port in the console, next to the handbrake. From the recessed space came a new Sonic Screwdriver. It was metallic and silver with the coral theme carried on with the handle.

He took it from its perch and activated it a few times. The thing still emanated the usual buzz, but this time it also took on a new unique feature. "Oh the end lights up blue. That's new. The old ones never lit up," he told the box, appreciatively, "That's fantastic!" He stopped, thinking about his new voice and the word he'd just spoken. "I quite like the sound of that… Fantastic!" he repeated again. "I love this voice," he said, grinning stupidly at his old box and turning back for the door, out to London.

No one noticed as he stepped from the old blue Police Box left over from the 1950's. He stepped out into a scene of pure wonder; humans everywhere. Shopping, driving, and eating foods high in saturated fats… he felt truly great to be back on Earth. He stepped into the crowd, joining the madness of people carrying out their day to day rituals.

He looked skyward as he walked along. The sun was high in the air, warming the planet and everyone on it. Down an alley he could hear two cats fighting over something; a piece of discarded fish probably from one of the vendors maybe. Trash men picked up refuse and buses thundered past on the roads. Horns beeped. Outdoor speakers played bad music. It was all just fantastic.

His stomach growled again, reminding him of why he landed in the first place. He stopped at a cashpoint machine embedded in a wall and took out his brand new Sonic Screwdriver. "Just a couple quid; enough to get lunch on," he spoke to no one in particular. The Sonic's end glowed blue on the machine as he started working on it. The cashpoint grinded and whirred and then spat out 20 quid at him. "There we go; lunch money."

He turned away and rejoined the crowd, everyone going someplace or nowhere. He looked around, noting all the wondrous buildings and shops on his way downtown. He stopped in front of one, a grand old brick place two stories tall. It was a shop called Henrik's. He noticed a blonde girl, her back to the world, very intently dressing one of the dummies in the window. He watched for a moment, reveling in the normality of this unknown girl working away, doing what humans do. Then, his stomach growled again and he started back down the road, just as the girl turned to look out the window.

The road carried him down past the shops to a quite familiar place; Piccadilly Circus. There, people mingled around the shops and the monument of Eros atop his spire. The Time Lord mulled around, drinking in the atmosphere. He watched the neon and LED signs changing a few times, as if completely bowled over by them. His stomach growled once more. "Oh all right," he told it. He rummaged around, looking for a street vendor pushing completely awful-for-you chips. And he found it. There was a single street cart advertising chips.

"One order of chips please," he spoke, grinning stupidly at the vendor. The fat man serving chips from a cart loaded some of the fried potatoes into a paper container and handed them to the Doctor, in exchange for the twenty quid. The Time Lord started off, going back into the sea of people.

"Oi, your change mate," the fat man spoke, trying to get the Doctor's attention.

"Keep it," the Doctor said, spinning around and having no need for money. He spun back, digging into the potatoes. He watched the people all off in different directions. Dozens were taking pictures of the neon signs, some looked in awe at the red double-decker busses and a few young couples even kissed at the steps of Eros. "Well, that's fitting," he said, looking at the Greek god of love. The bitterness from the war melted away, and soon he was awash in happiness.

"Oh, the attitude of the incurable optimist," a twenty-something woman spoke, standing next to the Doctor. She too had a packet of chips and was watching the same couple the Doctor had seen. "Too bad it won't work. Either he'll cheat or she will; doesn't matter. In the best scenario they'll grow old and one of them will die. Sadness must come with happiness."

The Doctor looked over at her, wondering who broke up his silent moment of contemplation and cheer. "Boy you're a barrel of fun. You sound bitter. Man trouble?" he asked. She appeared to be the power broker type wearing a men's cut suit with shoulder pads and could probably rip through the average, everyday bloke easily. She appeared to be the type to put personal advancement ahead of everything else, to the point of ill health even. She looked like a tough girl who didn't have time for anyone but herself. Which the Doctor found odd because the suit didn't match her large, caring eyes or soft curled dark hair.

She looked at him, at his short hair and big ears. And Fonzi coat. He appeared to be some kind of bum, or maybe a football hooligan. And that voice. He had to be from the north, and therefore probably drove a Reliant Robin and ate pies with gravy. "What are you some kind of weird doctor?" she asked.

He grinned stupidly. "Yes, actually, I am," he told her.

She looked him over again, his dopey grin disarming her. She couldn't help but chuckle at him and soon her guard was down. She munched on a chip of her own, feeling a case of buffoonery about her for talking to the strange man. "So, what's your name?" she asked.

"You already guessed it," he informed, "I'm the Doctor." He continued munching away, looking around at the people.

Her eyebrow raised in disbelief. "You're called the Doctor?" she asked.

"Yep," he glibly replied. "So go on then, what's your name?" he asked, turning to look at her. He continued munching on the chips, not thinking about much more than feeding his noisy stomach.

She looked at him, comforted by his face which seemed totally alien but also so familiar. "My name's Selene. Nice to meet you… Doctor." She gazed into his deep blue eyes, entranced by them.

"So, Selene, what brings you to Piccadilly?" he asked, not letting her take any time to stare at him.

She snapped out of her mesmerized state, coming back to reality. "My lunch break," she explained, "A very long lunch break actually. I just lost my job." She pondered her words for a moment, then dropped her head and started away, going to one of the public use benches set about the whole plaza. He followed. "My whole life's going to hell actually. My boyfriend Ed got this big promotion and doesn't have time for me. I lost my mum and dad and my brother, and now to top it all off, my job is gone." She plopped down on the bench, putting her purse next to her on the seat.

The Doctor sat down next to her, listening intently. "That sounds pretty terrible," he told her, dropping his glibness for a more caring tone. "Do you want to talk about it?" Before, he never felt the urge to play psychiatrist, but he felt as if he should be a touch more caring in this new incarnation.

"With a complete stranger, who just happens to have excellent taste in chips?" she asked, looking over at him.

"I'm not a stranger," he flatly told her, "I'm the Doctor." His complete absurdity made her smile again. "That's better. A smile, that's what I like," he told her, smiling himself.

She chuckled, despite feeling terrible. "You know, I think you're the only person who could make me smile. How weird is that? I feel like with you, I don't have to feel sad or afraid or anything… and I just met you. That's totally mental." She looked over his features, feeling a warm feeling about this strange man she'd just met.

"Gut instinct probably," he assured her. "Very instinctual you humans are. Quite often that gut feeling is the best indicator in your arsenal. More so than all the logic and math in the universe, that gut feeling can't be replicated."

She listened, mesmerized by him. His nonsense words reminded her of an imaginary friend that she had when she was a child. He was a silly cowboy with a bowtie. But that was ages ago. "So, wait a minute… you humans? Aren't you human?" she asked.

He reclined on the bench, looking out at the sea of humanity. "I suppose I sort of gave myself away with that one didn't I?" he asked her. She nodded 'yes.' He leaned forward and peered over at her. "No, I'm not human; a close approximation. The only difference really is a bit of spatial geography. Our species are very much alike. We in fact were practically like humans ages ago, before Rassilon." The memory of the Time Lord founder burned hot in his mind; everything that Rassilon accomplished was undone in the blink of an eye by the Doctor.

She looked over him, watching as the glib turned to concern, which then turned to what looked like sadness. "Are you okay?" she asked, feeling a touch more worried about him than she thought she could feel towards anyone. He was special for some reason.

The Doctor forced a smile for her. "Oh, I'll be fine," he assured her, pushing his memories aside. He sat back up, looking at her. "So, how about you? You've had a rough couple of days. Want me to help?"

Her tough-girl attitude came back. "Oh, I don't think you can help me. It's probably not worth your time," she told him, not caring if he listened or not.

"I've got nothing but time," the Doctor assured her.

"Really, it's no problem," Selene insisted.

The Doctor nodded. "You're probably right. I'm sure it's nothing some silly space alien that sounds like he's from the north could help with…" His gaze turned away, back out to the crowds. Over the years, he noted, a little reverse psychology worked wonders on stubborn humans.

She took issue with his tone, as he knew she would. "Now hold on there, Mr. Spaceman, if that is what you are… God I can't believe I'm even saying that. So, wait, hang on a minute, is that what you do? Come to alien planets to eat chips and help girls in distress?" she asked him.

"Yes, that pretty much sums me up," he told her.

His answer resonated through her mind. Those words. Those specific words… she knew she'd heard them before, in the exact same type of context as they were talking now. She looked over at him, completely calm and worry free. Her stressful week melted away in the presence of him. The overriding feeling was that he and he alone could help her to navigate the minefield of stress and maybe find closure. "So, can you help me Doctor?"

Regeneration pain set in. he leaned forward, putting his head between his knees. Then the odd feeling came back; not one of a normal regeneration. It was the feeling that he had earlier; the sadness and guilt feeling. His new friend leaned over him, checking on the strange alien. "Oh, no worries," he grunted out, "I'm still sort of percolating. New body and everything… this is pretty normal. Except this weird feeling… but don't worry about me, I'll be fine," he assured her.

She couldn't help but feel concern for him. Something deep in her soul felt drawn to the strange Doctor. "Are you sure you'll be okay?" she asked, leaning over with him. Her hand patted his leather clad back, trying to comfort him. He breathed deep and coughed out another lungful of golden shimmery smoke. Selene's eyes opened wide, seeing the sparkling exhale. "What was that?" she asked, completely in disbelief.

He sat straight up, totally fine and resuming the eating of his chips. "There we go, I told you I'd be okay." He grinned at her stupidly, showing her that he was full of surprises.

"What was that?" she asked again. Her wide eyed stare fell over him, not believing that he was what he said he was.

"Are you paying attention?" he asked. The phrase resonated in her mind. "I told you, I'm percolating. That's just a bit of excess regeneration energy." He stopped chewing on his chips, letting the half mashed potato fall from his mouth. "What's wrong with these? Oh yeah, new mouth, new taste buds. Everything's off. I think I'd do well with some vinegar." He dug into his pocket and removed a bottle of Pub style malted vinegar. The clear brown solution splashing on the potatoes reverberated in her mind, as if she was remembering something long forgotten.

"What species are you?" she asked. Her face had grown concerned, as if she knew the answer and knew exactly who this man was. Not just as 'the Doctor,' but that she knew him personally. Her mind flashed with nonsense images: the bowtie again... Converse trainers… spiked hair… a Stetson… tweed jacket. She had no idea what they all meant, but she was awash in good feeling, like she'd known their meaning for ages.

"My people are… were called Time Lords," he told her.

Her face went blank. "Gallifrey… in the constellation of Kasrous, at galactic coordinates 10-0-11-0-0 by 0-2 from Galactic Zero Centre," she reported. Her voice was robotic and monotone, as if she was reporting facts that she was conditioned to from years ago. He watched her intently; unsure of how a normal human in 2005 knew where Gallifrey was in the galaxy. "I knew it… those eyes. I know your eyes. I've seen them before. Long ago but in the future… they belong to the most caring and compassionate person in the universe. They belong to the Doctor…" she reported.

The Time Lord was stymied. He looked over her, thinking maybe he'd met her before in the past and forgotten about her during the regeneration. The long dark hair and deep set brown eyes didn't ring any bells. He'd never met her before. "That's very impressive. How'd you know all that? Not many know about Gallifrey. Unless they've met me… which you seem to have done… how do you explain that?"

Selene snapped out of her trance, almost as shocked as he was. "I… I don't know what just happened to me. That was… weird and unsettling." She cleared her throat, and then sat up, putting on the stiff upper lip look. "I'm sorry. Do you have any idea what just happened, Doctor?"

There was something about her. There was only one chip vendor in Piccadilly, and for some reason, this strange woman who knew the location of Gallifrey just happened to walk up behind him and strike up a conversation, eating the exact same thing that he was. Everything she'd said so far about knowing him and his eyes, from long ago but in the future at the same time… something was definitely afoot with his new friend. "Well, I don't really know. Fancy a walk?" he asked, "Maybe spending some time with you can clue me into how you knew exactly where Gallifrey was in the universe."

"Where what was?" she asked, clearly having no idea what she was talking about, "Gallifrey? What's that?" She looked at him blankly, back in her own world of job loss and being dumped by a bloke called Ed.

The Doctor had a theory based on the evidence before him. He stood and extended a hand to her. "C'mon. Get your chips and we're going to go for a walk." Selene took the chips and closed the small Styrofoam container they were in. "Have mine too," the Doctor told her, handing her the last few of his potatoes.

She reopened the container and piled his small stack onto her lump of potato. The smell of his vinegar wafted up, flooding her nostrils. Her mind became inundated.

Blue.

The deepest shade of blue. And four words. "Police Public Call Box…" she muttered, "Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Bigger… on the inside. Trans-dimensional plane… Vworp… Vworp…" The Doctor looked at her, genuinely curious. "Help me Doctor."

The Time Lord again was overcome with his pain. This time, it didn't follow regeneration pain and there was no buildup of energy inside him. Her plea was causing his pain. He summoned all his might and knowledge, pushing back against the force acting on him. He struggled to get back to the bench, not wanting to fall over in mid-town London. "Don't say those three words again…" he told her from grinding teeth. "Not at least until I can figure out why that phrase is causing this weird feeling."

He rummaged through his mind, looking for the source of the distress. The source was a psychic signal and it was nearby. The hugely powerful psychic blast was being directed to him, via his new friend Selene from someplace remote. The psychic signal also had a distinct feel to it, one of familiarity. It was as if he knew the whole time who was reaching out to him and that something very familiar was acting as a booster, pumping the signal into the universe across all of space and time, calling to him.

He cleared his mind and refocused. He worked past the feeling of familiarity to the source. No imagery found the Doctor, only feelings of sadness and despair. He felt as if he was walking down a dark corridor, with only the silence to keep him company. An immense sadness gripped him, one like as if he'd lost his family and best friend. He knew those feelings too well; surviving the Time War ensured as much. He dug further, looking for anything at all, for any kind of hint what or who was calling out to him.

His shoulder shook as he was rocked back to reality from his psychic trek. "Are you okay, Doctor?" Selene asked him. She was leaned over, a look of serious concern on her face. "You sort of blacked out for a minute. What's wrong?"

He glanced at her, comforted by her presence, although it hardly seemed new to him. It was as if he'd known her for ages. There was so much about them that didn't add up. She knew the location of Gallifrey and about his TARDIS. The feeling encompassing him was one like an old friendship. "I'm fine," he told her, in his new northern accent. "So, we were off for a walk weren't we?"

Selene was amazed by him. He could go from nearly catatonic in meditation one moment to upbeat and bubbly the next. For everyone she'd ever known in her life; her recently deceased parents, her brother, and even her ex Ed, there was no one quite like the Doctor. His demeanor and general positive outlook on everything was refreshing. She smiled on him, thinking fondly about those fragmented images in her head. "If I say some words, can you tell me if they mean anything to you?" she asked.

The Doctor stood up from the bench. "Go ahead," he told her, thinking that maybe she was just as curious about their relationship as he was. Somehow, someway, this woman was sent to him, and any insight into her would help him figure out the source of the psychic signal.

She dug around in her mind, thinking as best she could of the nonsense images that occupied her mind during the trancelike state she'd been in. "Okay, here goes. Bowtie?"

"Excellent pasta."

Not the answer she was expecting, but she continued on. "Brown suit and Converse trainers?"

"Sounds comfortable, but I like what I've got on," he explained.

"Stetson?" she asked, hoping desperately it meant something.

"Awfully country and western," he explained, "Or bachelor party I suppose."

She listened to his answers, deciding that they were joking and almost dismissive. "So, none of that makes any sense to you?" she asked. She watched as he shook his head 'no.' "Why am I even asking this stuff?" she asked. Selene's mind flashed with the images again, as if her subconscious was pressing for them. "This is stupid," she declared.

"Oh, why's that?" he asked.

"Because my life is falling apart and I'm stuck worrying about dumb things like bowties and Converse trainers," she told him. "My parents are gone, my boyfriend doesn't have time for me, and I'm worried about shoes and Stetsons."

He listened to her going on. It was all he could do at the time. "Well, sure, but so what? I mean it's sad about your parents and Ed or whatever his name is, but before me I see a strong young woman who for some reason keeps thinking of the oddest things imaginable, and I've seen quite a lot of odd imaginable things."

"Like what?" she asked, curious as to what could compare to being dumped and losing her parents.

"Well, Planet Barcelona. There are dogs there with no noses," he told her, "And Roboolore; flaming Manbearpigs." She listened intently, Roboolore piquing her interest. "I've seen Egyptian gods, the rise of the Cybermen, birth of the Daleks, and their destruction. My race, the Time Lords, oversaw all of creation from the beginning of time until present. There are so many wondrous and scary things out there Selene, I could take you anywhere. I could make you forget all about Ed…"

Selene smiled softly. Her curly dark hair blew in the gentle breeze as she contemplated his offer. "Well, I don't know. Maybe something…" she said.

"You know you want to," he prodded. He grinned at her, stupidly.

She couldn't help but grin back. "Okay," she agreed, "Help me forget about everything."

"Fantastic," he said, reaching for her hand. She grabbed it and the pair started back down the road towards Henrik's. "I parked back this way, won't take more than a minute to get there."

The trio moved against the flow of peoples all heading for Piccadilly Circus. They passed in front of the shop the Doctor had stopped at previously, this time the dummy fully dressed and the blonde girl off doing something else totally and completely human. They waited for a gap in traffic and then proceeded across the street before a bendy-bus or some bloke in a Peugeot blocked their path. Then, they arrived.

Selene stopped upon seeing it.

Blue.

That Blue.

It was that deepest shade of the most perfect blue. It stood eight feet tall with the words 'Police Public Call Box' written in nice typeface across the top. She'd seen it before, so long ago. She traveled to the moon in a box just like this one. No. She traveled to the moon in this very blue box. "The TARDIS," she quietly spoke, mesmerized by the ancient blue wonder.

"That's right," the Doctor said, holding onto her hand. "Back at the bench, you sort of checked out of reality for a minute and started talking about my TARDIS. Selene, for some reason you struck up a conversation with me at the only chip vendor in downtown London. You know all about the TARDIS and the Time Lords and about me apparently, and I have no idea who you are. Something out there, something bigger than us has guided you towards me. I was always supposed to find you when I got here. But why? Why is always the question."

He released her hand and stepped closer to the TARDIS. The door swung inward with a slight creak as he pushed it. He watched her as she stepped closer and closer, going to the open door. "Go on," he nudged, "This is the only bit of Gallifrey besides me that still exists in the universe."

Selene took a moment, and then stepped up into the blue box. Her eyes saw the most wondrous things; organic looking supports, porthole windows and a clear bit in the middle that looked like the warp drive from the Patrick Stewart _Star Trek _series.

The Doctor stepped in behind her, going up to the Time Rotor. The Space Time Visualizer flashed a red dot on one of the buildings outside. "Hmm. That's weird, a Nestene signal." He reached for a pad of sticky notes. "I must have landed right on top of it… we'll look at that later," he told her, scrawling down to look for a Nestene transmitter at one of the shops he passed earlier. He then turned back to Selene, watching as she was taken in by the old Time Lord Capsule.

Selene took a few cautious steps inward and up the slight ramps to the Time Rotor. She had the most wonderful feelings, as if she was wrapped up in the warmth of a blanket made of nothing but caring and selflessness. Her mind opened, flooding back with images of so long ago; images of her best friend… a goofy, lanky man in suspenders and a bowtie with a Stetson… images of chips under a Newcastle sign and big ears and a swoopy haircut. He meant more to her than nearly anyone. "Time and Relative Dimension in Space…" she muttered, looking up at the contents of the perfect blue box.

And then she remembered a friend from her teenage years. He was the same, but very different. He was the same caring man; both young and old at the same time. He was nearing his end, but still remained loyal to her, despite his inevitable fate. Together they faced incredible danger. They fought Trolls and Goblins and a whole dungeon of horrible monsters and giant spiders and worms. And he held her. When she was more frightened then than she ever was before, he never gave up. He held on to her as solid as a rock. All of them, they were so similar. So, so very similar. Because they were the same. He was the Doctor. All of them.

She looked at the man before her now, staring into his eyes. They were just as caring and compassionate as they had been when she was a child and as a teenager. "I remember," she told him, her tears welling up. "I remember everything; you and me. All the time we spent together. From the first time we had chips at the Red Lion Inn to playing that dumb Sega game on Nova Atar. It's always been you. Throughout my whole life, I've always needed the Doctor. I've needed you more than anything else."

He listened, wiping a tear from her cheek. "What do you need me for?" he asked.

"I need you to help me, Doctor."

As she spoke the three words, the Time Lord collapsed onto the floor. He wrestled with the psychic energy that overcame him, trying to gain an upper hand. He fought it, wanting to stay and learn more about Selene, but the more he thought about her, the stronger the force acting on him became. His eyes opened, and looked out over his TARDIS and his new friend standing over him.

In another sudden moment of clarity, Selene felt the immense urge to dig into her purse. Near the bottom, she found a strange geared mechanism. She scanned it curiously, unsure of its function but quite positive she had to leave it on his TARDIS. The Doctor grunted and she her focus moved to him. She gingerly looked down to the Time Lord, writhing in pain at her feet. "I need you to help me, Doctor," she repeated, "Don't fight it; let me take you." Her voice was calm and reassuring, but had a childlike quality to it. The Time Lord looked over her, trusting her and relaxing. She knelt down behind him and stroked his newly short hair. "I've always needed you… let me take you…"

He closed his eyes, remembering Selene's face. He relaxed, letting the psychic power overtake him. A feeling of warmth and friendship washed over his mind and body, like he'd known the feeling forever and just forgotten. The feeling was lost to him in the battlefields of the Last Great Time War. From the Fall of Arcadia to seeing Davros' command ship fly into the jaws of the Nightmare Child, he'd become hardened and bitter. Even so, it was a feeling he'd always had. He had it since forever ago from the first time he and his granddaughter Susan went off travelling to saving Dr. Grace Holloway and planet Earth in 1999 from the Master, just before the Last Great Time War. The feeling was that of a true friend.

The Doctor's eyes opened.

He looked around. This wasn't the TARDIS. Not even close. It looked like an old palace with touches of Greek and medieval styling thrown in. He stood up from the floor, looking around. He was alone.

"Selene!" he called out. His new friend was nowhere to be seen. He searched frantically in the room he was in, looking for her. He dug around under the four post bed, and behind the magnificent curtains looking out onto a balcony. The bureaus offered no answers and the walls were stylishly bare, with no tapestries hanging in the bedroom he'd been dropped into.

Exhausting his last option, the Doctor stepped out onto the balcony. What he saw was, in the least, shocking. A magnificent shade of blue shone upon him, cast by the light of the Earth. He looked down at the dusty topography before him, realizing that he was on the Moon. "There's air on the Moon…" he told himself, "And no Selene…"

He turned around and went back inside, not finding his friend on the balcony. He looked around at the grandly appointed bedroom, wondering who exactly it belonged to. The bed was magnificent woodwork; a skylight allowed earthlight to shine in and the floors were polished to a shiny grey. The door was cast from a piece of what he could only guess was moon dust, set into a form and molded. He passed through it and into a hallway.

Here the place took on the look of the palace at Versailles. Arched ceilings sloped down into magnificently cut walls with story looking carvings set into them. He took a moment, looking at the story.

A woman, one radiating incredible beauty, shone on the last section of wall. Had it been colorized and more photorealistic, the woman could have passed for his friend Selene. They both had the same dark curly hair, the same big caring eyes and, he imagined, same complexion. He wondered about her, if she too was transported to this strange place or if maybe she was a figment of his imagination. In the corner of the panel, he didn't notice a small box, that, had it been colorized, would have been the most perfect blue.

He departed the carvings, moving down the hall. The story unwound itself, showing this beautiful girl and two mightier gods, whom he could only guess were her parents. The opposite sides of the wall showed a male figure, one dressed in bronze armor, being killed by what looked like a common man. There were no adornments or gildings on this man, and the only thing the Doctor could tell is that he looked incredibly common, albeit handsome.

The story of this commoner continued as he trekked on down the corridor. He came from Earth, apparently, and had fallen in love with the Moon goddess on the balcony from wall sections previous. From what he could see, it looked as if the girl's parents, the two mighty gods, disapproved of their love and the common man, so enraged, was out to destroy anyone who opposed their union.

The story continued on, down the corridor and down to a long staircase. He could see a small girl at the bottom of the stairs. From above, she looked like she had the same dark curly hair as his friend Selene. He watched for a moment, seeing her sobbing quietly. He started to her, keeping his footsteps quiet, not wanting to startle the child.

His pace slowed, seeing a skinny man in a brown suit and long coat approach her. The skinny man reached out for her, letting her know of his presence. She screamed, clearly not expecting him. He quieted her and soon, the girl was looking over every inch of the man. She seemed particularly mesmerized by his eyes.

The Doctor started again, moving down the stairs to meet these other people. Then, from across the floor, another skinny man bumbled in. He was dressed in a tweed jacket, bowtie and a Stetson, exactly the things that Selene was asking him about.

He looked at the other bloke. He was dressed in a brown suit with white Converse trainers. She had been thinking of these two men when she was talking to him. He stepped closer, as the bowtied man admitted that something would be bad.

"Oi, you three, what's going on?" he asked, stepping to the ground floor.

"What?" the brown suited one asked, seeing the Doctor. "What? What?" he continued, his voice growing squeakier with every 'what'.


	6. Chapter 6

The Three DoctorsChapter 6

"Oh I loved it when my voice went all squeaky like that," the Eleventh Doctor admitted. He scanned the two men before him, knowing that the last time something like this had happened, it was only the direst of circumstances and in both instances, the Time Lords were responsible. "Blimey, it's like looking at a mirror set six and two years ago respectively…" he panned back and forth between the Ninth and Tenth Doctors.

"You're telling me," the Tenth Doctor admitted, looking at the floppy ears and short hair of his old self. He took a step closer to the man he once was.

"You're both me?" the Ninth Doctor asked, looking at what he would become one day.

"Boy I was swift back then," the Eleventh admitted, looking at the Ninth Doctor. "Our brain moved quicker than a nun's first curry. You and I both know what he looked like, but he had no idea what he's to become," he told the Tenth. "Even for us that's properly swift."

"And you're me," the Tenth Doctor stated, looking at Eleven. He drank in the whole package, looking at what he'd become. The sight wasn't pleasant. "A bowtie? And cowboy hat?" he cringed in disbelief that his dress sense had become so garish.

"It's a Stetson. Stetson's are cool," the Eleventh Doctor informed, cutting his prior self off.

"What? No," Ten told him, "Not cool at all…"

"Would you two mind?" the Ninth interjected. "For some reason, the First Law of Time has been egregiously violated and instead of figuring out why, you two seem to want to argue over a hat." He stepped between them, putting them in their place. Ten and Eleven stopped their Stetson banter. "Okay then. Future shock over. Why are we here?" Nine posed.

Eleven grinned. "That seems to be the question," he told his past selves. He knelt down, looking at his friend Serenity who just watched the back and forth between all three Doctors. Ten and Nine too looked at the little girl in their midst. "Serenity, I think that someplace, deep in your mind, you know why we're all here. You'd forgotten about your parents; can you maybe remember why we're all here?"

Serenity looked pensively at the three men before her. There was her Doctor, with his big jaw and goofy hat and bowtie, and he was joined by two men who couldn't possibly also be the Doctor. "Are they really you?" she leaned in, whispering to her Doctor.

He smiled at her childlike curiosity. "Oh, they're me all right, both of them. The three of us, we're all the Doctor."

His grin continued, and she knew that he was telling the truth. She glanced over at the skinny one, who started to crack a smile. Then the short haired one came into view. He had a look of stern resolution that came only with the Time Lord. She returned to her Doctor. "These are the men you regenerated from. Twice, like you said on the TARDIS?"

"That's right," Eleven told her. "Fonzie over here is me right after that big, nasty war, and Suits with Trainers is what came from saving everyone on a place called Satellite Five… and from saving someone very special to me," he told her.

Ten recalled it, the insistence making him remember sucking the power of the Time Vortex from Rose. He recalled it so vividly, saving her life and causing the man he was now to exist. He wheeled around, sitting on the staircase, and getting down to the Eleven's and Serenity's level. "You can trust him," Ten assured Serenity. "He is me. Only I'd know how important that moment was to myself."

She took a few steps backwards, moving to sit on the staircase herself. She plopped down next to the Tenth Doctor, examining his face. She could see the happiness and consternation on his face. His smile was a forced one, remembering the good but wanting to weep for the bad. "She was the one called Rose?"

"Yes she was," Ten told her.

"You mentioned her. He said that she was one of the most important people he'd ever met," Serenity informed, recalling the names that her Doctor had told her.

"She was," he agreed. "Heck, she still is. Right now she's off on a parallel world, with a clone of myself, keeping him, me… whatever, out of trouble." His gaze glassed over, remembering saying goodbye to Rose on Dårlig Ulv Stranden and leaving her with his human doppelganger.

"I'm sure she's happy," Serenity told him, always looking at the bright side of things.

A warm feeling washed over him. "That's really all that ever mattered to me," Ten told her.

Eleven too went and sat next to her on the stair case. "Serenity, for some reason, my personal timeline is being disrupted. That's the only thing nowadays that could bring past versions of me to the present. You're the key to all of it. Why are they both here?"

"What do you mean nowadays?" Serenity asked, her kiddish curiosity getting the best of her.

Nine stepped forward, kneeling down. "What he means is that in the past, when something like this happened, our people were responsible. The Time Lords scooped up the first two versions of us to help the Third stop a rogue Time Lord called Omega from destroying the universe. Then later, Lord President Borusa used a machine called a Time Scoop to get five versions of myself to help him attain immortality. Both times before, the Time Lords were responsible…"

"And I can't be them, because they aren't there," Serenity deduced.

Nine reflected, remembering Gallifrey burned and broken; decimated by numerous Dalek Fleets. "Nope, no more Gallifrey, no more Time Lords," he told her, perking his tone up to keep the mood light. "So something else drew us here."

"And the only thing here, is you," Eleven told her. "The TARDIS knew you needed my help. That's why I landed in Northleach instead of Roboolore…"

"Roboolore?" Ten asked, "You actually like those flaming clowns and all that circus rubbish?"

"I wanted to relax for a bit," Eleven explained. "I just got married; I thought I deserved a break."

"Married? To who?" Ten asked.

Eleven knew that Ten had knowledge of who River Song was. The first time he met her was in a place known as The Library. It was ages ago when it was just him and Donna, before the return of Davros. It was in the only planetary Library in the universe that he saw the end of River Song. When being interrogated by Davros on the Dalek Crucible before saying goodbye to his friends, she was one that he remembered dying in his name. But as time travel so often goes, he met her again later, as their time lines run backwards to one another, not parallel. "Oh, spoilers," he told his past self, unable to reveal anymore.

"You two have really got to stop that," Nine told his future selves. "We're not going to get anything accomplished if you two keep getting into these little squabbles."

Both Ten and Eleven knew that Nine was correct. "He's right," Ten told him.

"Of course he's right," Eleven agreed. "He's me, I mean us…" He stopped for a moment, thinking about the past. "Boy this is something isn't it. Remember when we stopped Omega? The reason the Time Lords sent our first incarnation was because Two and Three kept getting into squabbles."

"Well, if anyone was going to keep us in line, it was him. He was the first." All three recalled the First version of themselves, the Original Doctor as it was. He was as young as he had been, but appeared so old. And despite being young he acted ancient and crotchety. Of course, now that version of himself was sealed away in the Time Lock.

Ten and Eleven both looked up at Nine, knowing that since the Time Lock, _he_ was the first. "Too bad they can't be here. All of us. I'd love to see my old selves. That long scarf or the celery on the lapel, Two playing his little flute… boy we were fun back then."

All three Doctors shared a laugh. "We're not near as musical as we used to be…" the current Doctor laughed. "Even for Time Lords, it gets away from us… that was such a long time ago," Eleven told them. "But one thing we learned back then is that when one Doctor is good, three Doctors could be unstoppable. Even Omega wasn't a match."

"Right," Nine agreed, "But I'll ask again. Why are we here? I remember I was in London, 2005 or so, eating chips and then I met a woman," he looked over Serenity, noting her features. "A woman with your hair, and eyes just like you. The same colors and styles… and she was telling me about how she lost her parents and brother and that her boyfriend left her because he got some promotion. She'd even just lost her job."

The other Doctors and Serenity listened to his story, Eleven and Serenity noting similarities between it and what they'd experienced so far, albeit a story adapted to life in 2005. "What about you?" Eleven asked his brown suited self. "What were you doing before you got here?"

Ten thought back, recalling as best he could his actions before finding himself in a hallway with Earthlight shining on him. "I was playing a video game; on Nova Atar… the Ancient Games world. It was one for a Sega Genesis called _The Immortal_. It's weird…" he spoke, recalling broken memories.

"What was?" Serenity asked.

"Well, I remember that the game was really knackered. The sprites were wrong somehow, like I think they should have looked one way but were completely wrong. And I only had the staff from the game for one part, a fight with a troll, the other times I just had the sword." He looked at Serenity too. His mind flooded with images of the game he'd participated in and the companion he had temporarily. "Rena… her name was Rena… she carried the staff for me. She was saddened by the death of computer sprites. And… Dunric… and Mordamir… from the game, they were all significant to her, but she didn't know why. She was trolling for a boy…"

Everyone listened, trying to piece together the puzzle. "Does any of this ring a bell, Serenity?" Eleven asked her. "Serenity Naxos. The Greek girl living in the Cotswolds without her parents in a house bought and paid for…"

"What are you going on about?" she asked, not getting it as quickly as he did.

"We're in a palace, on the moon, on a lunar sea named after you," he told her.

"You said it was here before I was," she told him. Both Nine and Ten watched intently, not sure what transpired before they arrived.

"I think I was wrong," Eleven admitted. "This Sea was named not only for how calm it looked, but for the ancient Greek goddess, Selene. She was the Goddess of the Moon."

"That's right," Nine declared. "And that's the name of the woman I was chatting with in London. Selene," he confirmed, recalling it much easier than his Tenth self's trip on Nova Atar.

The brown suited one knelt. "Not much of a stretch to get Rena, either… somehow, Serenity, you're the key to all of this," Ten told her. Serenity's focus shifted, not sure of what to believe or how her feelings were meshing with the Doctor's proposed history. "Serenity, somehow, someway, your plea for help echoed throughout all of space and time, drawing me and him here," he nodded to the Ninth Doctor. "No ordinary girl could do that."

"I thought it was part of my regeneration," the Ninth Doctor revealed, "Every time I got closer, each time I tried to fight off the pain that came over me, I heard a tiny voice asking for my help," Nine told her, "I think that was you."

"I felt it too," Ten told her, "I thought it was the Ood calling me back to their planet, but it was you. The psychic power was so strong. Only the strongest cry for help could pluck us from our timeline and bring us here." Their three gazes fixated on her.

Serenity's head jetted around, looking at each Doctor before her. "I… I… don't know…" The ten-year-old was overwhelmed. Despite what she was being, in her mind she was just ten years old and liked to listen to Elvis and eat chips. Her lip quaked and soon tears and sobs emanated from her.

Eleven slid closer to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Now, now Serenity… do you remember what I told you on the TARDIS? That no matter what we were facing, I'd never leave you?" he asked.

Her teary eyes looked out at the two other men calling themselves the Doctor, settling eventually on her Doctor; the one that'd been with her since the very beginning. "Yes," she spoke between cries.

"Well, now you've got three Doctors who are never going to give up on you," he assured her. "Remember the names I told you? All the people who were important to me? Well they really are the best parts of me. And you're in there too. The TARDIS brought me to you because you needed my help, and I think the old girl boosted your own psychic cries for help and brought my past selves here too." She released his chest and looked at him as he talked. "It doesn't matter what I look like on the outside or how big my ears are or if I like Roboolore or not. Because there's one thing I know. That back then or right now, I'm always the Doctor. And I'm always going to help you."

Serenity listened to the words he was telling her. He sobs stopped and she tied both arms around him lovingly. "I know you'd never give up on me." She listened intently, to his breathing and the sound of his dual hearts ticking away. A memory sprang from the depths of nonexistence and echoed throughout her mind. She pulled away from her Doctor and looked at Ten. "It sounds like yours…" she told him, remembering clutching onto him in the depths of a dank dungeon, waiting to be annihilated by a lava beast or dragon or some such nonsense.

The Tenth Doctor smiled. "Of course they sound alike, because they're the same… Granted, I'm a much better dresser than him, but we're still the same."

Serenity giggled at the little joke. "Always my goofy Doctor," she told him, relieved. "But I still don't remember what was going on. Sure I remember what my parents looked like, but I don't know why they're dead or what caused it."

Nine knelt down. "Have you been looking at these walls?" he asked her. Serenity turned her attention to him. "The walls with the story of you carved into them?" She nodded. "That's how you remembered who your parents were, and your brother, right?" Again she nodded. "Well, on the way down I was looking at the carvings. I think if you read more, you'd remember more."

"He's probably right," Eleven agreed. "We should see what the story tells us…"

Their 'aha moment' was interrupted. The whole of the palace filled with a great crash, as if something had smashed forcefully through the locked heavy doors at the front of the place. The ground seemed to quake and small particles of moon dust aerated and flew up into the new atmosphere. "What was that?" Serenity asked.

All three Doctors scanned the hallways, knowing that something was headed their way and it most likely wasn't friendly. "We should run… really, we should go…" Ten spoke, not wanting to hang around, checking the entrances and exits.

Eleven had an inkling that the watchdog from outside had found his doggy door, and now Fido was on their way to them. "He's right," Eleven agreed. He stood and reached for Serenity's hand. "Follow me!" He started off down the corridor he entered from, towing the girl along.

"But not that way!" he shouted, seeing their lava beast in the hallway ahead of them. The beast growled mightily then started toward them. Ten and Nine both stopped, reversed and started back the other way, behind a wake of bowtie and tweed with a little girl tied on.

Fido had found them and was now inside the palace corridor, hot on their heels. The large stairwell was welcoming and the huge foyer offered lots of routes out. "Right then! Up we go!" Eleven exclaimed, bounding up the stairs and picking the wrong escape.

"There's no other way down from there!" the Ninth Doctor explained, stopping and wanting to go down another corridor. "I came from up there. It's just the bedroom and a balcony!"

Again Eleven reversed course and started down another path, this time to the one that the Tenth Doctor had entered from. "Glad to see I've still got my marbles," Ten remarked to Nine, following along as Eleven lead the worst escape in the history of escapes.

"I wouldn't know," Nine revealed, "I hardly know you." They kept pace, only a few steps behind the newest version of the Doctor and his tiny friend and well out of reach of the palace watchdog. The four streaked down the corridor, past the smashed window where Eleven and Serenity entered from and to another grand staircase, this one going down.

"Did either of you come from the basement?" the Eleventh Doctor asked, stopping momentarily and looking down the dark and scary steps.

"No," both previous Doctors reported. Behind them, the hallways glowed orange as their aggressor bared down upon them. "I think we should go for it though," Ten spoke, watching the hallway.

"I think you're right," Eleven admitted, breaking his grasp from Serenity. He went back to the door and rummaged around in his massive pockets. The green glass bottle of Perrier smashed on the floor, wetting the floor and most of the walls. "Remember our Apache friend?" he asked Serenity, taking her hand again.

"Geronimo!" she called out, keeping a hold of the Doctor as they started down the long and dark staircase. She smiled, remembering the joke and not minding the darkness or the unexplored chasm beneath the palace. The adventure was exciting.

Ten and Nine followed, each of them using their Sonic Screwdrivers as torches to light the path. The basement was exactly as one would expect; basement-y. The place was dark and smelled stale, as if no one had been there for thousands of years. The floors were hard cement, made again from the moon dust.

The quartet spied around, looking for an appropriate hiding place or some way to get out of their predicament. While scoping the perimeter of the basement room they'd descended into, the Ninth Doctor found something odd. At the far end of the room was a large box with wires jetting from it and going all directions. "Well, that seems perfectly reasonable," he told himself, thinking it fitting that the power controls for the place should be located in the basement. The large lever on the side of the power box flipped upward and the whole palace hummed and whined as power was restored. Everyone joined him at the junction box.

"You see? Properly swift, in any incarnation," Eleven told his young friend. Serenity giggled, clutching his hand. "Now, why would there be electricity on a moon palace?" he asked to anyone in the group.

A voice deep inside Serenity overcame her. "We're not savages, Doctor," she spoke, her voice maturing in a matter of moments. She looked up at all three versions of the Time Lord surrounding her. Her eyes were no longer housed the innocent gaze of a lost ten year old. Now, they were aged, much older, older than even him perhaps, and not at all belonging to the tiny girl from Northleach.

The Eleventh Doctor took a knee next to her as the Ninth and Tenth looked on. "Serenity, what's happened to you?" he asked, a look of concern filling his old face.

"I'm remembering," she reported, looking at him. "It takes all three…" she reported. Her stare moved from Eleven to Ten, then finally to Nine. "The Three Doctors to restore me. The Three Doctors to save the universe… the power of three."

Ten and Nine knelt down too. "Serenity, we need to know what is happening. Why are you talking differently?" the Ninth Doctor asked her. He didn't know her long, but his hearts were already filled with worry for the young girl.

"What's happened to your voice?" the Tenth Doctor asked, rubbing her shoulder.

"Restore you?" Eleven asked. He peered into her, past her deep brown eyes and into her very soul. "You're not the young girl I met in Northleach anymore are you? You're something more, something very, very powerful."

"Three Doctors to restore me," she repeated, robotic and monotone.

"Selene did that," Nine told them, "Right before I got here she started spouting off facts about the TARDIS and Gallifrey; things that she shouldn't have known. The tone is exactly the same."

"Selene is me," Serenity spoke, "And Rena," she added, looking at the Tenth Doctor. "Selene knew because you told me." Her gaze moved to the Doctor she'd known since childhood. "It was outside of the Red Lion Inn where I first saw that most perfect blue. We're the same person. I sent three versions of myself throughout time and space to bring the three of you together to help me. Throughout the whole of the universe, everyone, if ever in distress, always needs the Doctor. And you always come through, every time."

Eleven looked at her in wonder, curious about what she actually was. "So, you remember everything? In the pub, you couldn't recall anything except the palace we're in now and the lava beast. Do you remember it all now?"

"Indeed I do, Doctor," she told him, "But before I reveal that all to you, stand back." The three Doctors did as instructed, and stepped away from her. "It's good that you restored the power; I can revert to my original form." Shutters around the tops of the basement flooded the room with Earthlight, cascading Serenity in the warm shades of blue. Small glowing particles drifted around her, filling the basement with a blue glow that emanated from Serenity.

She levitated off of the ground, floating and glowing like an ethereal visitor, not a tiny girl from Northleach. "Long ago, before you were born even, I sat on this tiny world looking out at the planet below me. Back in that ancient time, when I was a young girl, I once fell in love with a man; a lovely, caring man from the Earth." The three Doctors listened intently to the story.

"While my parents ruled the Heavens and the Earth from their lofty perch claimed from those they usurped, I was exiled here. For ages, I'd stand on my balcony, looking up at the Earth, wishing to be with my parents. I never saw my brother Helios and my parents were far too busy running the daily operations of Earth. For ages I sat here alone." Serenity's head dropped, remembering the sadness that occupied her for so long.

"Then what happened?" the Ninth Doctor inquired.

"Then, I felt love," she told him, smiling. "I was exiled here for a thousand years before he found me. He was a common man from Earth. He stared at me night upon night, and each time I could feel his love for me growing. I brought him to me, like I did with you three. We shared this palace, and his emotion grew, like all Earth men's does. It was wondrous and rapturous, like the most intense love that could be shared between two people…" her voice trailed off, thinking of the happier times gone that'd passed her by.

"And then what?" the Tenth Doctor inquired.

Her glowing face became sad. "When hearing what my parent's had done to me, he became enraged. He couldn't fathom why they'd lock me away and exile me here. He set off and slew them, one by one. First to fall was my father, Hyperion, then my mother, Theia. Even my brother Helios wasn't spared. As each one of them fell, he assumed their power, growing stronger and being corrupted by it."

"So, you need us to help stop him," Eleven deduced. Selene looked on him, approving of his deduction. "What then? You have to know that we cannot kill him. And how'd you even know about us?"

"We all know about the Doctor," Serenity told them. She recalled the past, drawing on her memory of ages gone by. "Long ago, before my parents settled on Earth, they took part in battle with a malevolent creature being worshipped as a god on this world during the Osirian Conflict. His name was Sutekh."

All three remembered Sutekh, an alien known as an Osirian. The people of Ancient Egypt worshipped the Osirians as gods when they visited Earth in the earliest days of civilization. Even the great pyramids were built as gifts to the Osirians. Horus, leader of the Phaester Osiris, headed a horde of 740 Osirians to track down and imprison Sutekh. Sutekh eventually broke free from his prison, and returned to his ways of destroying anyone who would threaten his dominion over the universe.

During his Fourth incarnation, the Doctor battled Sutekh, who sought to end all life in the universe. He occupied the Doctor and nearly forced the Time Lord to use his TARDIS to continue the reign of terror throughout space and time. The Doctor fought back, and eventually trapped Lord Sutekh in a time tunnel for thousands of years, longer than the lifespan of an Osirian.

"That is the version of the Doctor I wished to get, the puffy haired, scarved one," Serenity explained. "You so easily handled Sutekh, when so many had fallen… the magnificent Doctor. I've watched you and every version in every adventures. But all prior versions were unavailable…"

"The Time Lock," the Ninth Doctor interrupted. "All of my past versions are sealed away. Only something like two TARDISes colliding could circumvent that, and we all know that can't happen…"

The Tenth Doctor looked at his past self, knowing a bit about the future that he didn't. "Right…" he agreed, knowing that in at least one instance that two TARDISes had collided and he met his Fifth self. "Now, Serenity, how do you propose we stop… what was his name, you never said?"

"Endymion," she told him.

"Ed," the Ninth Doctor spoke, recalling what his Selene had told him. "That's what you called him when I first met you. Ed. And he'd taken a promotion. You must have meant that taking your parent's power," Nine hypothesized. "You put the details of what happened here into modern terms."

"Indeed," Serenity agreed. She smiled at all of him. "You magnificent Doctors… age has complimented you."

The Eleventh Doctor paced around. "What caused it in the first place?" he asked. "I mean, love is strong, one of the most powerful things in the universe in fact, but I've never met a love so strong that a mere mortal could slay gods and assume their powers. All that makes it sound… like he had help."

"Help? I do not believe that anyone wanted my parents gone," Serenity told him. "Endymion was too strong willed. No one could use him as a pawn."

"Suppose you're right; he loved you," Eleven told her. "But why now Serenity? This all happened thousands of years ago, why did you wait until now to fix the problem? If he'd gained as much power as you said, the whole of creation may have come undone. Why wait so long."

"You must think four dimensionally, Doctors," she told him. "It is happening now. It happens in the future, and the past. The reference points I use are merely in Earth intervals, to make it easier for you. Just as I was able to appear to you in three different guises at three different points in your timeline, Endymion's struggle against my parents is starting, continues now and has ended. It was my assumption that you would have gotten all that, after fighting in the Last Great Time War."

What she did describe was a lot like the Time War. It happened at all points throughout time, yet at none of them. The effects were far reaching, yet left no stain on the universe. It effected everyone in the whole of creation, yet no one had memory of it, save for the Doctor. "But if it continues now, and we're somehow able to stop it, whatever power he had will be gone. He'd be killed…" Eleven told her.

Serenity blinked a few times, tears rolling silently from both eyes. "I've known nothing but sadness for millennia. If you were to undo that… undo my pain, I'd be forever grateful. You're the Doctor. You make those around you better. And I need your help. Only you can stop Endymion." The glowing around her intensified and her childish frame melted away.

All three watched it, recognizing the parts they'd gotten to know. Serenity grew into teenage Rena, then finally adult Selene. Selene stopped levitating and drifted back to the ground, shrinking with age as she floated along. When the glowing blue light from her subsided, the Time Lords could see that their goddess was a withered old husk, not at all like they'd experienced. "Please help me, Doctor," she pleaded in a wavering old voice.

They took a step closer to the old woman now before them. They all looked over her, noticing things that were undoubtedly part of the woman they'd come to know. Eleven knelt down and kissed her on the forehead. "Serenity, I promise we won't give up. If we can do anything to help you, we will."

"I know," she spoke, her voice now old and frail. "The universe always needs the Doctor; to right wrongs and help those in need," she told them, smiling at her three Doctors. "I know you won't fail."

Both Nine and Ten felt warm watching as their newest version tended to the old woman. "Rena, since you're in there, you know I won't let you down," Ten agreed. "You were so scared when you grabbed onto me in that dungeon. So was I, for that matter. But you stuck with me, fending off those trolls and that worm and grieving for the dead. You're magnificent and I disappoint you." The old woman smiled at her skinny, suited Doctor.

She watched as the Ninth approached her. "And I barely got to know you, Selene. I would have shown you every fragment, every shade of the universe if it would have made you happy. You and I could have been best friends. Heck, we still could I suppose. Ask anyone, and they'll say my friends were always, always most important; more so than Gallifrey or even the Time Lords. For the future we could have had, I promise we'll succeed," Nine told her.

"Thank you all," Selene told them, smiling. Her ancient body and heart was calm for the first time since arriving in the palace. The lava watchdog above them quieted, sensing that its master was home and quite calm with her company. The air became tranquil and no one had the sense that they were about to be melted. Selene worked her way from the middle of the room to an edge, to an old chair, carved from olive wood seated at the base of an archaic looking computer. "When you stopped Sutekh, you placed him inside a Time Tunnel, so that he wouldn't emerge until he was older than the longest Osirian lifespan. Endymion is ageless since absorbing my father's powers. And your TARDIS cannot enter the plane occupied by my parents," her aged mouth explained.

Eleven walked to her. "Then how do we combat him? We need to get to him if we can help you," he explained. In his mind, plans ticked away, working on several scenarios at once.

A smile crossed her wrinkled face. "I left you presents, Doctor, to help you," she told them. "In your pocket," she spoke to the Tenth Doctor, pointing at a suit pocket, "And on your TARDIS," she added, pointing to the Ninth Doctor.

Ten dug around inside his suit pocket. Amidst his usual things: slinky, stethoscope and Hornby Junior Pocket Oscilloscope, he found something else. He remembered Rena slipping it into his pocket as they stood there waiting to be melted and reset in the dungeon of _The Immortal. _He took out the bronze trapezoid and examined it.

Made of the Grecian metal of choice, the square box housed a mechanism that was spring loaded with many cogs and gears inside it. Ten examined it, pressing a small, silver button in the middle. It snapped open with two similar sized cogs extending out from the top, turning a smaller cog that pumped a small plunger leading to a glass vial. "So what's this do?" he asked, noting that both larger gears turned the smaller one.

"That mechanism is one of two that will help you," Selene told him. "The power enjoyed by my parents is generated. It emanates from the very essence of life. As the energy goes into the air, my parents developed a machine to collect it and use it to usurp the gods of the time. Now, it maintains him. It keeps Endymion alive."

"I thought your parents were gods?" Eleven asked.

"My parents are Titans… were Titans," Selene corrected. "They started life as mortal men and grew powerful; powerful enough to wrest the heavens from the gods themselves. That device will invert the process. It drains the conducting fluid used by the machine that generates the energy. Using it will strip Endymion of his huge energies and make him mortal." Ten looked at the simple looking tool in his hand, understanding how it worked.

Nine looked on, knowing that he too had a large part to play. "So mine's on the TARDIS, right? Reckon we should get back to it," he told his two compatriots. All three started for the door, all of them eager to help their friend.

"That is not necessary, Doctor," Selene told him. The ancient chair spun on a bronze roller, sliding underneath the primeval keyboard. "A simple teleport can deliver the TARDIS from outside to here." She pressed out a few commands on the keyboard, which was done up in Greek symbols. The giant screen in the wall came to life, displaying the outside environment. One of the cameras finally settled on the magnificent old Blue Box.

Selene pressed out a few more commands, amping the palace's power up to maximum. The screen flashed with light as a blue beam encompassed the ancient Time Lord capsule. Another equally brilliant flash settled over the three Doctors and Selene as the basement now housed the most perfect shade of blue.

Nine and Ten both looked at the TARDIS. With the exception of a St John's Ambulance placard on the door, it looked exactly the same as it had for the years they operated it. "Are the keys still the same?" the Ninth Doctor asked, reaching into his pocket for the uncut, metabolically activated key.

Ten took a step back. "Watch this," he said. He raised his right hand in the air and snapped his fingers. The door creaked open. Nine looked at him in disbelief. "I had that fitted recently," Ten told him, "Well, recently for me anyway." Ten and Nine piled into the box.

Eleven looked at the hunched and withered old woman who until recently was his young friend. "Well, Serenity, I suppose we should be off…" he took a small bow and joined his predecessors in the TARDIS, ready to depart.

Selene smiled at all of them, happy that her Doctors were off to relieve her pain. The TARDIS Vworped a few times and slowly disappeared. Selene sat there, relieved and full of hope in the Doctors. Then, just as it disappeared, the TARDIS reappeared with the same Vworp fanfare.

The Eleventh Doctor popped back out. "Hi, yes, sorry. I just have one problem with this whole thing," he told her. He stepped from the box and inched closer to her. "My problem is that, they both got presents and I didn't get anything; I'm very jealous, you see." He smiled softly at the old woman. "Come with us," he whispered.

Selene looked at him through her tired, old eyes. "I can't. I'm far too old… I'd be a hindrance to you Doctors."

Eleven stood, turned slowly and in three large steps arrived back at the circuit breaker for the entire palace. "I can fix that," he told her, flipping the circuit open.

The lights darkened and the hum that overcame the palace ceased. Again, Selene glowed blue and the power that restored her to her old state fled, returning her to her child aged status. The Doctor rejoined her by the TARDIS door. "You see, I said I could fix it," he told her.

Serenity was back. She looked in awe over her hands and skin, once young again. "I don't believe it. How?" She sat there, wide jawed in disbelief.

He smiled and knelt back down to his companion. "You're special. Everything you did to get me here was caused by you and you alone. Not the palace or the lava thingy or anything else. It was all you. This is the form you most want to be. And I need you to come with me," he admitted, not wanting to say goodbye to his new friend just yet. "So how about it? One trip in the TARDIS, you and your three Doctors off to save the man you once fell in love with?" he asked with a smile.

She returned his smile, her mind made up.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Eleven and Serenity joined the Ninth and Tenth Doctors at the Time Rotor. "So this is what you've done to my TARDIS?" Ten asked, looking at the radically different desktop theme. "I don't like it."

Nine too agreed. "Right, I much more liked the coral theme I had."

Serenity took her seat and the Doctor joined his counterparts at the controls. "I kept that desktop for five years. Thought it was time for something new. And anyway, I didn't have much choice in the matter. She picked this out all herself," he added, smiling up at the Time Rotor. "Everyone, welcome Serenity back," he spoke, followed by a nod to his tiny companion.

Both the Ninth and Tenth Doctors grinned and chorused "Welcome back."

Serenity stood and joined the Doctors at the console. The Time Rotor started up and down, Vworping away as the TARDIS went along, this time much smoother than before with three Doctors at the controls. "Doctor?" she asked, wanting to gain her Doctor's attention.

The Eleventh Doctor glanced down at her. "Yes, Serenity, what is it?" he asked, knowing that it'd take all three of them to pilot the TARDIS onto the plane of existence occupied by the Titans.

"Two things," she told him, "First, how did you know that cutting the power would bring me back to my young form? And two, shouldn't you find the gift I left for the Ninth Doctor and use that to fly the TARDIS?"

All three Doctors listened to the girl's queries. Simultaneously, their eyes widened realizing that they'd skipped over finding whatever twenty-something Selene had left in the TARDIS back in 2005. "Ahh," Eleven spoke. Nine and Ten stopped manipulating the controls and started looking for the storage bin she'd tucked the tool in.

"What did you do with all my storage bins?" Ten asked, looking at the floor beneath them. On his TARDIS, the floor was made from woven metal and there were storage bins set into them. He kept a great number of tools and gadgets in the floor panels which were now replaced by clean, clear glass.

Eleven looked at his past self. "Again, I didn't have anything to do with that. She probably shuffled them around and stuck everything into a store room," he hypothesized.

Serenity tugged at his coat. "Didn't you delete the store rooms when we filled the moon with air?" she asked.

The Doctor's mind rushed back into the past, recalling him deleting the store rooms and emptying the swimming pool to create enough atmosphere to flood the lunar surface. "Blimey," he said, recalling it. He started jabbing controls and buttons with the ferocity of a madman. "That complicates things!" he announced loudly, hoping to get his past selves back at the console.

"What does? What's going on?" the Ninth Doctor asked in his northern accent. He climbed the stairs to the console from the mass of wires underneath.

Ten too joined them, looking curiously at the pair. "What'd you do?" he asked.

Eleven's gaze shifted from them to Serenity to the console and all around. "The gift that Selene left us back in 2005 was in one of the storage bins in the floor…" he spoke.

"We know that," Ten and Nine chorused.

"I may have accidentally deleted the store room it may have been in when I had to fill the moon with air…" he sheepishly told his past selves. He winced, knowing the full extent of his error. Serenity took his hand in solidarity.

The Ninth and Tenth Doctors looked at the newest model in disbelief. "I must have been hit by a truck or something," Ten spoke, "I was never that airheaded."

"Well, tear into me later," Eleven told him, "But right now, we need to find that artifact. Who knows where the old girl put her since she reconfigured herself."

The Tenth and Ninth Doctors looked at the radically different TARDIS interior. The platform they were on led off, upwards on a flight of stairs in one direction and down a flight of stairs in the other direction. "How'd you know where anything is?" the Ninth Doctor asked.

Eleven looked up to the upper stairs. "That staircase leads to the drawing room, then the library, finally the swimming pool." He glanced down to the other, downward moving stairwell, "That one used to go to the fitness center, movie theatre, science labs one through seven and what used to be the store rooms."

Serenity listened as he rattled off all the things that fit into his magical Police Box. "A movie theatre? In a tiny blue box?" she asked him.

He glanced down to her. "That's why I needed the Dr. Pepper machine; movies are more fun when you sneak your own snacks in," he told her with a wink. "Of course, this presents a problem; how can the two of you help search for the… thing… without exposing too much of your own future to yourselves?"

"It's called a trans-spatial dimensional portal," Serenity corrected.

"Right, the trans-spatial dimensional portal," the Doctor spoke, correcting himself, "You two, knowing the contents of the TARDIS now could alter your future, and ergo my past… Hang on, I think I've got something for that," he spoke, remembering a device he once constructed on the fly.

He grabbed Serenity's hand and started up the staircase leading to his study. The Ninth and Tenth Doctors followed. The quartet arrived at the large wooden double doors of the study. Eleven and Serenity pressed the doors open and entered the book lined study.

Clocks of all varieties ticked away on the walls, with the odd grandfather floor clock thrown in for variety. Massive shelves of books lined the perimeter walls and housed mementos of his past selves: a long scarf hung from a hat tree in the corner, a cricket ball rested atop a copy of HG Wells' _The Time Machine_, and a recorder flute stood erect next to a tiny cat shaped lapel pin.

Eleven scanned around. "It should be around here someplace…" he spoke, letting his voice trail off.

"The trans-spatial dimensional portal?" Serenity eagerly asked.

"No. That's still lost somewhere," the Doctor explained. He worked his way down the bookshelves, getting to the glowing fireplace and coffee table.

Serenity still hung onto him. "So what are you looking for?" she asked, growing tired of being drug around in circles in the study.

"Yes, what are you looking for?" the Ninth Doctor asked. He and his successor didn't leave the doorway, not wanting to enter the room and contaminate their own timeline with future knowledge or experience.

"I'm looking…" the Eleventh Doctor spoke, "For a Chronon blocker."

The other Doctors understood. Serenity was having more difficulty. "What's a Chronon blocker?" she asked. "Isn't that a pill for heart patients?"

The Eleventh Doctor stopped, looking at her strangely. "That's a beta blocker," he explained. They began the search again. "No, a Chronon blocker can temporarily render the possible effects of timeline manipulation null and void. It'll let one of my past selves help search for the trans-spatial dimensional portal without altering my past."

"What does it look like?" Serenity asked. She too started looking, not at all sure what she was looking for.

"Sort of like a bracelet," he told her, "With a metal cube on the top. I had to make it on my last trip to Skaro. Amy's past was rewritten when the Daleks invaded Earth in 1963 so I used spare Dalek parts and whipped it together so that Amy wouldn't blink out of existence."

"Daleks?" the Ninth Doctor asked, overhearing the conversation. "There shouldn't be any Daleks. I eradicated the Daleks! They were erased from existence by my Time Lock!" he shouted. The very mention of the Doctor's most hated enemy elicited a response in the tumult of emotions boiling away in the post-Time War Ninth Doctor.

The Eleventh Doctor turned and looked at his past self. He'd forgotten that when he was that man, he knew that the Daleks were a memory. At least until he and Rose ended up in Arizona deep inside a bunker full of alien technology. But in the beginning of that life, as he stood before them now, the Doctor was certain that the Skaro aliens were no more. When he was that man, he did with the Time Lock what he couldn't do on Skaro during the Genesis of the Daleks. He rectified a mistake and eradicated the whole species. "I'm sorry," he apologized.

Ten too looked at him, knowing exactly how angry he was in that incarnation when he discovered a Dalek still alive. "I'm so sorry," he too spoke. That single Dalek in the desert of Arizona changed him forever. But, in the same vein, Rose changed him forever. And for that, in a way, he was partially grateful for the Daleks.

Hatred for the most evil creatures boiled away inside the Ninth Doctor. "They always survive don't they!" he angrily asked. "I lose everything and they always survive!"

The Eleventh Doctor and Serenity joined his past selves back at the door. This time the young girl carried a small bracelet. "Well, on the plus side, we know who is going to wear the Chronon blocker…" he spoke, taking the bracelet and handing it to his angry past self.

"Why me?" the Ninth Doctor asked, taking it and looking at his future self with a look that could only be described as questioning. He couldn't think past the anger or hatred.

Ten looked over them. "You need it because you've got a longer road ahead of you than I do. The Chronon blocker will help to undo anything you learn here when you get sent back to your own time," the Tenth Doctor explained. "My next stop was the Planet of the Ood…" his voice trailed off. "Put it on."

Nine complied, snapping the bracelet around his wrist. The machine set to work, cleaning his body of accumulated Chronon particles. "Okay, so what? Why can't you wear it?" he asked his immediate successor.

"Because he's going to turn into me soon," the Eleventh Doctor spoke. "He's nearing the end of a great run. Rose, Jack, Sarah Jane, Martha and Donna… Harriet Jones, Shakespeare, that lovely Gwen woman at Torchwood… the Nestene, Sycorax, Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, the Master… all of them. I miss being you," Eleven admitted nostalgically.

Ten contemplated it himself, remembering all the faces of those he loved so much. "It was pretty brilliant, wasn't it? All of it. Everything was fantastic. Too bad you can't tell me what's coming next."

Eleven looked at his past self, knowing that the greatest challenge faced by the Doctor to that point in his life was just ahead. He wanted to tell his old self about the return of the Master and Gallifrey, but he knew he couldn't. "Spoilers," he told himself, citing River again. He looked over to his skinny, suited past self. "But what's coming is fantastic. So, so magnificent. I mean, not for you, obviously, being the end and all, but it's the role we play. The Ood will tell you more."

"Well that sounds all rather impressive," Nine noted, hearing the list of names Eleven rattled off, as well as the enemies. "And since I won't ever remember any of this, can we please maybe get moving along so that I go and do all of it?" he asked.

Ten and Eleven looked at him, his eyebrows high on his head and shoulders raised. It was by far the goofiest looking version since the Time Lock, but even so, he was definitely the most serious of the three Doctors. "I suppose I should let you two go and look for the trans-spatial dimensional portal so we can get this whole show on the road," Ten told them. "I'll be in the console room."

"Right," Eleven agreed. "We'll go and find Serenity's artifact and come back to the control room." He gave his past self a nod. He, the Ninth Doctor and Serenity in tow started down the long corridor next to the study into the depths of the TARDIS.

Ten turned and went back down the flight of stairs to the control room. He was greeted by gilded walls and odd shapes. From the strange staircases going in different directions to the odd ceiling to the oblong walls that were longer on one end, it seemed that this most recent TARDIS interior favored the asymmetrical.

A mish-mash of eras and themes were present. With a telephone on the console from the 1980's to a much older typewriter and a space time visualizer that looked like the last thing someone had watched on it was Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953, it appeared as if nothing matched. Even his beloved yellow jump seat had been replaced by three separate white seats, all of them at odd angles. It was as much a hodgepodge as he'd ever seen.

Yet despite the strange shapes and the weird wall angles and kitschy period pieces present, it was still the TARDIS. The old Time Rotor was unmistakable and the hexagonal console hearkened back to the very first console ever; the one that he and his granddaughter Susan took to earth in 1963.

"It's always you," he told the box, "Old or new, from every end of space to the other, it's always just you and me…"

A small chime echoed into the room. He looked over and saw another stairwell, this one not attached to the gantry that housed the console. It led upward. He left the Time Rotor and went to the stairwell, looking up the stairs, trying to see what was in it. The Doctor knew he couldn't contaminate his own timeline by knowing anything more about his future than he already knew, but he felt strangely drawn to that open door.

That was always a part of him. He couldn't resist the call of an open door. Or empty chasm… the thrill of the unknown. He'd spent so much time lately obsessing over the Ood and his own song coming to an end, he nearly forgot who he was; the daft old man who stole a box to go and see the universe. He was the bloke who, after rappelling ten miles down a dark chasm on Krop Top, cut his rappelling line and fell miles more, and eventually faced off with Satan himself at the bottom of a pit. He was the man who, at the end of time itself, decided to take stroll outside just to see what the place was like.

He looked at the door again, wide open and staring at him. "Why not?" he asked himself. "Allons-y." He started up the stairwell, one step at a time, carrying himself into places unknown.

At the top of the staircase he found a rather odd thing waiting for him. Before him stood two wooden doors, blue in color. A placard on the left side read _Police Telephone. Free for use of public. Pull to open._ "What?" he asked himself as his voice went squeaky. He pushed the door open and stepped inside, finding a most comforting display.

Preserved, in all its glory, were some 282 porthole windows, masses of cables overhead and a TARDIS console still wearing the Coral desktop theme.

He looked wondrously at the marvelous police box as he was most intimate with it. The hat tree was in the right spot, the space time visualizer was very un-1950's and the yellow jump seat was exactly as it should have been. Except for one thing standing next to the console.

"Hello," a girl's Scottish voice spoke.

The Doctor looked up and saw a person he was not familiar with. She was tall and skinny with a shock of red hair, fair skin and hazel green eyes. "Who are you?" he asked, closing the wooden door behind him.

"Oh right," she spoke, "You wouldn't know who I am. You linear living creatures; you haven't met me yet. This face would mean nothing to you. Hold on," she told him.

The Doctor looked at her as she closed her eyes, as if deep in concentration. The ginger woman before him disappeared, and was replaced by a short, scraggly man with short hair wearing a vest and jeans. "Now who are you?" the Time Lord asked.

The unknown man looked down his body. "No, I've gotten the wrong one again. If you didn't know the last one, this face would make even less sense." He looked up at the Doctor. "You've met quite a lot of people, backwards and forwards… hard to pick out the right form. You corporeal beings… now wait a second." He too closed his eyes.

In a flash, this scrawny, scraggly man was replaced. This time, by a shape the Doctor did recognize. He was taller and still male, but the scraggly beard was replaced by a clean shaven, steel jaw. "Jack?" the Doctor asked, seeing his friend Jack Harkness before him.

Jack too looked downward, as if he didn't know who he was. "Well it's still wrong." He looked upward. "I mean, I'm getting closer. I was aiming for London, but instead first get Leadworth and now Cardiff. Never was good with exact places… but you know that," Jack chuckled. "Anyway, I've got something special for you, I just need to find the right body. And in case you can't tell, I'm not really Jack or Rory or Amy. Just hang on, okay?"

Jack too closed his eyes. A flash accompanied this change. "There, that's better," the new being spoke approvingly, knowing she had the right form. The Doctor looked in wonder at the new hologram or whatever it was before him. The voice was definitely south London, the hair, blonde. Brown eyes peered at him and he could feel his hearts beat a touch faster.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked, seeing his twice lost but never-forgotten companion.

She smiled, as only Rose could. "Well, kind of," she explained. "I'm actually a graphical interface designed to interact with whatever Time Lord was assigned to operate me. I guess since you stole me, that makes it you. Or I stole you… whichever you like."

The Doctor was putting it all together. "So, you're the TARDIS?" he asked.

She smiled more, flashing her pearly whites. "That's my thief. Quick as ever…"

The Doctor appreciated the form the old box had taken, and was even a little amazed that it had. In all his years, the TARDIS never saw a need to reach out to talk to him. This was a first. "So, why are you here talking to me? Why are we here, in my control room with you? I mean, if I had to guess, I'd say it was something to do with my impending fate. You're trying to calm me down."

"Will it work?" she asked, peering into his soul like no one else could.

He grinned like an idiot. "Well, if anyone could do it, it'd be you," he admitted. He strolled around the control panels, plopping down on his familiar jump seat. "But, you're _actually_ the TARDIS, and you just look like Rose? The actual life-force inside the Box, that's you."

She moved around, joining him on his side of the console. "Yep," she agreed, "That's why I called you my thief. You stole me, after all."

He looked at her, a touch of disbelief tainting his soul. "So, after all these years, after ten regenerations, from one end of time and space to the other, this whole time, you could talk to me?"

She nodded. "Yep," Rose told him, "But, I don't have to though. You and I, we're so close I know how you're feeling and what you're thinking. And when I have to interfere, sometimes you end up in the Cotswolds instead of Roboolore. It's always for the best."

He looked around at the control room, missing it and knowing that he wasn't going to be around for much longer. "And then I suppose sometime soon you're going to hijack me and take me to the Planet of the Ood, so I can go and die?"

She reached out and took his hand, gripping it as only Rose could. "You have to," she assured him. He looked forlorn at the news, not wanting his time to end. "I know it seems like a lot, but that's who you are. Those two versions of yourself rummaging through my store rooms are both brilliant. Your predecessor saved Rose from the Autons. He met Jack Harkness in 1941 and helped him become a new man. He stopped a Dalek fleet from eradicating humanity in the year 200,100 and in the process saved Rose's life. You didn't think twice when you sucked the power of the Time Vortex from her. So, why are you so pensive now?"

He looked at her face, remembering all the good times they'd had out among the stars. "When I was him, I didn't mind giving it up to save her. And the new one, he's so much more different… I guess it's because I don't want it to end. I don't wanna go," he admitted.

"But he's still the Doctor," she told him, "That new version of you has done so much already. He re-started the Big Bang, went toe to toe with the Weeping Angels and he danced like a loon at Amy and Rory's wedding. It doesn't matter if it's bowties and tweed or Converse and spiked hair. No matter what, you're always the Doctor. Your future is safe. Your spirit will always be safe as long as you're still alive."

"But he's not me," the Doctor argued, wanting to continue his existence.

Rose stood and the TARDIS recalled an ancient memory. She closed her eyes and summoned a recollection from ages ago. "Go on, have a look," she told him, pointing at the Space Time visualizer mounted on the Time Rotor.

He spun the thoroughly modern flat screen visualizer to him, not knowing what the consciousness inside the TARDIS would conjure up to help him feel good about surrendering his life or becoming a bowtied idiot with swooping hair. On the screen was an image of himself. The picture was old and faded and even in black and white. He looked over the ancient man on the screen, both young and old at the same time. It was the very first version of him, the daft old man who'd stolen the box. The First Doctor.

The old man had a gash on his forehead and his suit was tattered and dirty around the edges. The Tenth Doctor remembered it vividly. He'd just finished fighting the Cybermen from Mondas, Earth's twin planet and his old body was too aged and tired to keep going. His regeneration was imminent. From there, the oldest looking, yet youngest chronologically, Doctor ever began to speak.

He gripped the lapels of his suit and looked skyward, recalling his adventures and his friends and his granddaughter Susan. "One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine…"

The Doctor sat back on his jump seat, listening to the wisdom of his younger self. Even back then, over 700 years ago, he knew what his lot in life was. When he was that man, he exhausted his body to fight the Cybermen and save Earth. The Second Doctor was placed on trial by the Time Lords for interfering in the affairs of lesser species; defending them from intergalactic threats. That incarnation surrendered his life for them as the Time Lords forced regeneration. His Third self died protecting Earth from an invading race of spiders. And that was the trend that carried on up to that version that ultimately gave his life so that Rose could live.

He couldn't be the one to break the trend.

He couldn't.

As he was now, the Doctor had become very warm and personable. He was adored by those around him. Rose loved him, Martha loved him and Donna loved him, in a strictly platonic sort of way. Jack, Mickey, Sarah Jane, Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister, and Rose's mum Jackie… they'd all grown to love the Doctor. And he couldn't let them down.

He grinned slightly.

"You're so loved," Rose told him. "Everyone in the whole universe loves you, in any form you take. You've touched so many lives… you should take comfort in the fact that, even though you've grown a bit silly, he's still the Doctor. That little girl wandering the halls with you is so enamored with you, that she came along for the adventure, despite facing the most horrible consequence. This adventure will take so much from all of you, but it's something that only you can do. Rest assured that no matter what, the Last Son of Gallifrey will never, ever, die. As long as you're remembered in the hearts and minds of everyone, the Doctor will live forever."

He listened to her, knowing that the aged wisdom of his old Blue Box was talking to him directly. "Well then," he spoke as he stood up, "Once we're done here, I think I should head off to talk to Ood Sigma. See what he has in store for me. Anyway, I should be off." He stood from the jump seat and looked at Rose one more time.

Rose met his gaze. His rambling meant only one thing; he was back. There didn't need to be any confabulation or meetings or even any words. The bond between a boy and his stolen magic box was simply that strong. "I'll see you soon," she told him, "Well, old me, so I can take you to see the Ood. Maybe stop in Hawaii or for a quick Gary Moore concert beforehand…"

The Doctor grinned and started for the door, stepping through the blue wooden doors and onto the staircase leading down to the most recent version of the TARDIS.

As much as he might not like it, that swoopy haired man with a bowtie and tweed jacket was him. And as history tends to repeat itself, the Tenth Doctor knew his future was safe.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Nine, Eleven and Serenity roamed the corridors of the TARDIS, peering into every empty room, every vacant crevice and every soulless corridor in the old Blue Box. "This could take hours," Serenity remarked, as the trio conquered another empty room.

Eleven looked down to her, "It could take days."

"Months even," Nine commented as they stepped into an empty hallway.

Serenity's eyes followed whichever Doctor was speaking. Her childlike expressions were clearly evident; she didn't want to be stuck wandering empty corridors for months. Then, one door caught her eye.

This one was different. The others were very… normal. They were made of wood and were wide enough to fit a car through. This one however was a bit different. This door was metal and ran on sliders instead of hinges. "What's in there?" Serenity asked, looking in wonderment at the door down the empty hallway.

The Eleventh Doctor backpedaled a moment, seeing what she was looking at. "Oh, that's the zoo," he nonchalantly told her.

"Zoo?" she asked, as curious as a ten-year-old would have been.

Eleven and Nine both looked at her as she lit up. They'd been so preoccupied with finding the trans-spatial dimensional portal they forgot that they had a guest. From two perspectives, both Eleven and Nine had a new companion, one unfamiliar with the wondrous old Police Box and all its secrets. "Well, technically speaking it's a Time Lord Botanical Garden for the study of extraterrestrial species and their preservation…" She looked at him dumbfounded. "Zoo is catchier though… so, do you want to see it?" Eleven asked her with a grin.

As any ten-year-old would have, Serenity beamed and began to nod her head frantically. She reached out and took his hand and dragged him to the precipice of the Zoo. "Well, go on, open it," she told him, eager to go inside.

"Yeah, open it," the Ninth Doctor commented, "I'm as eager to see this as she is. I don't keep a zoo full of animals on my TARDIS." He rocked backward on his heels, his hands behind him as he waited.

The Eleventh Doctor reached out and gave a yank on a red handle in the middle of the door. "Now, these are all extremely endangered on their home worlds and time periods. That's why I've taken a collection. Being the last of a race makes you appreciate them a little more." Air hissed and a layer of dust rolled out from under the door. "I'll admit that it has been a while since I was in here," Eleven told them.

The trio stepped from the shapely organic looking circular corridor to massive room of highly vaulted ceilings and glass windows where solid walls normally would have been. Jungle trees ran overgrown in the entire place and warm sunlight filtered down from an artificial source above. The ground was a mixture of loose sand and grasses, depending on what needed to live there.

"Welcome… to Jurassic Park," Nine commented, recalling the film of the same name. They took a step inward, two of the party not knowing what to find.

"Are there dinosaurs in here?" Serenity asked, very eagerly.

"A few… someplace. Now, Serenity, pay attention, there will be a quiz later," Eleven told her, spinning back to his young companion and past self. He was just as comfortable playing tour guide as he was defending the universe from Daleks or whatever the monster of the week happened to be. "If you turn your attention to your left," both Nine and Serenity looked left. A small angry looking animal with rough skin was hunched over on four legs, nibbling at the ground. "On your left you'll see the now extremely endangered Trollus Burlapus of Nilbog 2."

The ugly animal growled at them from inside its clear plastic pen. A lot of sharp teeth added to the ferocious look of the creature. "Don't worry, the Burlap Troll is completely vegetarian and only a spray from its green chlorophyllic acid would be harmful to animal creatures like us." The trio continued on.

The Eleventh Doctor motioned to the right. "And over here we see one of the few remaining of the largest flightless bird in the Andromeda galaxy." A large yellow plumed bird stood towering overhead. Its eyes were easily the size of Volkswagens and its beak was the size of a school bus. "This gentle giant lived for millions of years peacefully eating the flesh of the mega-saguaro on the desert planet Gobimeyu. This is a female of the species. The males are much smaller, only about as tall as a pub, not as large as a four story parking garage like Sunflower here."

Serenity looked at the huge bird in awe. "Why do you call her Sunflower?"

Eleven looked up at the bird too. "Well, she needed a name, and she is big and yellow. I thought it was quite fitting."

"Can't fault the logic there," Nine agreed, looking at the mammoth bird. "What else have you got in here?" he asked, being completely unfamiliar with the TARDIS Zoo.

Eleven spun around and led his guests to the next pen. "Now, this is one of the last reptilian species in the whole of the Milky Way as of Earth year 7 trillion. It's called a Sauraghatt Lizard from Rigel IX. Personally, I think it's rather cute," he told them, grinning at the strange lizard.

The small lizard had the face of a pug dog with the scaly exterior of a gecko. A long tail whipped around and acted as a defense mechanism against the strange fleshy humanoids looking at it. Its green skin darkened to match the grass it stood in and a jet of fire shot from its mouth. "Oh yeah, it's a real cutie," Serenity commented, covering herself from the contained flame. Her focus shifted. "Oh, what's that one?" she asked, running to the next pen. This creature was sight cuter; asleep with fluffy gray fur and big ears. In fact, it looked like a normal, everyday rabbit, save for the fact it was six feet tall.

"That is a Lepus Nocturnus," the Eleventh Doctor told her, "Literally the Night Hare. It's from the Kelley Deforests on Elgin XI. I haven't named him. Despite looking cute and cuddly, this one's actually quite dangerous. He wiped out the troop of Englishmen that were sent to kill it."

"So why'd you save it?" Nine asked. Serenity paid no attention to either Doctor, looking instead at the adorable rabbit encased in glass.

"He is the last of his species," Eleven informed. "Almost ageless, the Night Hare has almost as much blood on his paws as I do…" he stopped and thought a moment, growing sullen. "But no time to worry about that. We really should go and find the trans-spatial dimensional portal…"

"About that," the Ninth Doctor, interrupted. "When your TARDIS reset itself after your regeneration, it presumably reshuffled the entire contents. I mean, it took me a minute to find the wardrobe on my TARDIS, so whatever she put the trans-spatial dimensional portal, presumably it's in one place that wouldn't change."

Eleven saw where his past self was going with his point. "But everything changes: bedrooms, library, even the control room. So where is it? Where wouldn't change?" He thought for a moment, thinking of all the places that the old Box couldn't reorganize itself without functioning running or making the environment inhospitable.

"It's right here!" Nine realized. Eleven was right with him. Serenity was still focused on the cute rabbit. "This space couldn't be tampered with or it would become inhospitable to the endangered species. An old protocol designed to protect whatever was under study by the crew of the TARDIS."

"You're right!" Eleven agreed. "If I know my old Box, and I think we do, we both know that she'd never endanger these animals. I mean, I never had any of these before I regenerated, but some of the plants here are from before I even had the TARDIS; back from when it was still in service to the Time Lords. The control room changed, the storerooms, the movie theatre, everything, except the botanical gardens…"

Nine grinned. Eleven grinned. "Well, you see? We've cracked it," Nine spoke, approvingly. "You hear that Serenity?" he asked, turning to the caged Night Hare. "Serenity?" he asked.

Eleven too looked over, not seeing their companion where she was only a moment ago. "Serenity… Serenity!" he shouted. On further inspection of the cage, they could see that the door to the enclosure was open and a mass of giant, grey fluffy death had gone missing. "Oh no," Eleven spoke, vocalizing what he and the Ninth Doctor were both thinking.

"She must have let it out," Nine hypothesized. "You go that way, I'll go this way!"

The Two Doctors took off in different directions, each of them searching for their lost ally. Eleven took off at a sprint, going back past the Burlap Troll and taking a left at a Smilodon from Earth, circa 10,000 BC. He scanned frantically, not wanting to lose his new friend to a giant killer hare or conversely, meet his end by the Lepus. "I've survived the Last Great Time War, Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels, the Pandorica and River Song and here I am facing mortality at the paws of a giant bunny…" Eleven told himself as he ran along.

Similarly, the Ninth Doctor wasn't having any better luck. He scanned all over, looking for the smallest of their party. "Serenity!" he called out, searching around the trees and the undergrowth. He found nothing except a caged Boga Lizard from Utapaw and an Ankylosaurus from Earth. "This is no good," he told himself, starting off to the other end of the massive zoological garden. High above, the artificial sun grew dimmer and dimmer, slowly blanketing the TARDIS zoo in a swath of darkness. "What's that? Why's it gone dark!" the Ninth Doctor shouted.

"The lamp cycles between day and night every two hours!" Eleven responded from a good distance away. "Now is when the nocturnal animals are active!"

The Ninth Doctor pondered it a moment. "Sure, the nocturnal animals are active. And that means our big murderous Night Hare will be on the hunt…" He started again, searching frantically.

Eleven too realized that the Lepus Nocturnus would on the prowl. He stopped a moment, and really wished the poor hares on Elgin XI weren't so bloodthirsty. He reached into his jacket pocket and took out his Sonic Screwdriver. It whirred to life with its lighted green end as he scanned about the Zoo. "Well, that's no help," Eleven spoke, checking his findings. The Screwdriver showed massive amounts of life readings, as one would expect in a zoo, but nothing to specifically point him in Serenity's direction.

The Ninth Doctor on the other side of the botanical garden could feel a darkness closing in on him. He peered around, trying to see anything past the jungle trees. He slowly stepped forward, each footfall slow and deliberate, as if he didn't want to stumble into the murderous night hare's wake as he bumbled around in the dark. "Serenity! Serenity!" he started again with a loud whisper.

Nine's eyes were starting to adjust to the dark. Apart from the rustling of the now visible jungle leaves, the zoo was completely quiet. Ahead of him, he could make out the shape of a figure. He couldn't tell if it was Serenity or his future self. He reached out, going for the unknown shoulder.

"Ah, you've found me," the Eleventh Doctor commented as Nine spun him around. Nine rather hoped it was Serenity, but was relieved that maybe together they might do well against the Night Hare. "There's no sign of Serenity anywhere. I hope the Lepus hasn't gotten her."

Nine thought about it for a minute and then decided not to dwell on it. "Is there someplace safe in here? Someplace that she could have run off to if she was being chased by the Hare?" he asked, not being familiar with the future configuration of his TARDIS.

Eleven thought about it for a moment, but then found himself at a rather favorite animal's pen. "Not really, but I've got an idea," he spoke, looking at the large clear door. The Sonic Screwdriver unlocked the door to the pen and the Ninth Doctor pensively followed the Eleventh in. The air was calm and smelled faintly of ammonia. "Hello? Geoff? Here puss, puss, puss…" Eleven calmly spoke.

From high above in a hollowed out tree covered in old carpet, a massive beast jumped down at them. Nine took a step backward, while Eleven stood calmly, unblinking. The artificial moonlight glinted into two massive eyes as a rough tongue ran over giant sharpened teeth underneath what looked like a handlebar moustache. A very nonthreatening meow departed from behind the horrible fangs.

The Eleventh Doctor took a step forward and gave the large mustached cat a few pats on the head. It purred happily and licked at his tweed jacket and bowtie, happy to see him.

"You have a giant cat named Geoff?" the Ninth Doctor asked. He wasn't in disbelief as a companion would have been; he just didn't figure himself as much of a cat person, not since his Sixth self and his cat lapel pin anyway. "And is that a moustache?"

"Yes, I do have a giant mustached cat named Geoff," Eleven explained. "Designer giant pets were all the rage on Regnes Prime. The mustache is actually a concentration of whiskers, grown at the behest of whoever ordered Geoff from the catalog. Anyway, I saved Geoff here from an animal shelter after he was abandoned. Then the shelter got rid of him; they couldn't afford to keep buying rhinoceroses for him to eat."

The cat seemed docile enough, and was quite friendly with the newest Doctor. Nine approached it apprehensively and reached out, stroking the cat. "Hello Geoff. Can he help us find Serenity?" Nine asked, turning to his future self.

"Geoff here loves a good rabbit hunt," Eleven informed.

"You'd doom the Lepus to extinction?" Nine asked.

Eleven didn't even hesitate. "To save Serenity, yes. I don't even want to think about what the death of her Earthly form would do to whatever form she takes on a different plane…" He stepped out into the open spaces outside the enclosure. "Here Geoff, c'mon puss," he spoke, clicking his cheeks.

Geoff left the safety of his enclosure, following his favorite Doctor. On the outside, his very catlike reflexes and instincts took over. His ears twitched. His head jetted around and his nose sniffed the air. He had the scent of a Lepus. The Doctor only had a moment to activate a tracking dot on Geoff's collar with the Sonic. Like a big predator cat, Geoff licked his lips then started into the undergrowth.

"Follow that kitty!" Eleven proclaimed. Both he and the Ninth Doctor took off at a run, following in Geoff's wake into the dense jungle. Every hundred feet or so, the massive cat would stop, search the area around him, sniff the air and then pick a new direction.

At first, Geoff led them off to the right of his enclosure, then to the left again. Like a lion on the Serengeti, the massive housecat's back was arched and its shoulder blades sat pronounced as Geoff neared his quarry. Geoff stopped.

Both Doctors put a finger up to their lips, telling the other to be quiet. Their hope of finding Serenity alive rested in Geoff the mustached housecat and his innate rabbit hunting abilities.

The giant kitty's ears flicked back and forth in the calm air. The trail had gone cold and he'd lost his prey. Geoff's head jetted around and he sniffed around, trying to acquire the scent of rabbit again. Slowly, the cat looked off to his left.

A mass of fur shot toward the Doctors; a killer hare about to strike the Time Lords.

Geoff reeled around and leapt at the hare, meeting it in midair. The beasts collided and quarreled on the ground, out of reach of the Time Lords. Geoff struggled against the hare, swiping with his claws.

The more agile rabbit countered and rolled away, bearing long fangs and leaping at Geoff. The hare knocked Geoff onto the turf and leapt onto the cat's belly, forcing him down. He bared his fangs and readied to finish Geoff off.

Not wasting a second, the Eleventh Doctor took his own Sonic Screwdriver and seized the Sonic from the pocket of his past self. He pressed the two ends together and activated both Sonics simultaneously.

A piercing shrill whirring noise echoed into every corner of the zoological garden, drowning out everything. The deafening noise wreaked havoc on both Time Lords and was absolutely crippling for the long eared and sensitive hearing equipped Night Hare. The Lepus jumped off of Geoff and buried its head among its paws, trying to block the dreadful noise.

Geoff quickly recovered and as soon as the Doctor had stopped the Sonic onslaught, Geoff leapt onto the hare's back.

"Doctor!" Serenity's tiny voice called out from somewhere in the vicinity of the melee. Both Doctors heard the cry and looked away from Geoff's adequate handling of the hare to search for their friend. The scrub undergrowth was quickly brushed aside and the Time Lord Duo neared their lost companion.

"Serenity!" Nine shouted over the sounds of Geoff dispatching the hare. "Can you hear us!"

A moment passed. "I can hear you Doctor!" she cried back, obviously scared. The sounds of beasts battling started to fade as they moved off and soon the two were overcome by something much louder and grandiose.

"Hang on Serenity!" Eleven told her, happy she was still safe. "We're nearly to you. Just hold on for a few more seconds!" The roaring sound continued.

A strange sound of rushing water met the Time Lords as they moved along. "Hurry! I can't hold on much longer!" Serenity cried.

The Doctors hurried along and made for her voice as quickly as they could. The sound of Geoff and the Hare was long silent and they both had a feeling that something akin to Victoria Falls lie just ahead. They were right.

The jungle cleared for a few meters and then opened up to a large swath of running water that dropped off a cliff and into a large lake about 100 feet down. "Doctor! Help!" Serenity cried again.

Again, the Time Lords started for her voice, which they could now tell was coming from over the edge of the falls. Both pairs of Doctor's eyes opened wide as they found Serenity dangling from a rock jetting out of the sheer cliff. Below her, two large creatures were swimming up the waterfall, against gravity, using large fish tails and big, muscular legs. Their fur was matted against their bodies and their large jaws were open, mistaking Serenity for lunch.

"Oh bother," Eleven spoke, "The vertical Bearfishes from Amanue XII… I forgot I had this waterfall for them… hang on Serenity!" He took off his tweed jacket and tossed it to the ground. He unhooked his suspenders from his trousers and dangled them over the edge, like a two handed rescue line.

He had a good idea, but it wasn't going to work. "It's too short!" Nine proclaimed, seeing that the suspenders were still a good four feet from Serenity. He took inspiration from his older self and removed the belt from around his waist. Lashing them onto the end of the suspenders, again the Doctors hung them over the edge.

Serenity reached out for them. "Still too short!" she cried out, looking from the Doctors to the approaching bearfishes. Large furry bear and fish hybrids advanced up the waterfall. "Hurry Doctor!"

One last time, the Eleventh Doctor pulled the suspender and belt combination upwards. He looked at the suspender and belt blend in his hands, unable to think of anything to add to it to make it longer. His mind raced, but was staggered at what he could do to help Serenity.

"Here try this," a new voice suggested. Nine and Eleven turned and saw the Tenth Doctor. His hand was outstretched, holding his maroon colored necktie. Eleven and Ten shared a grin, and then Eleven added the Tenth Doctor's tie to the handle, making it easily long enough.

Eleven reached over the cliff and dropped the suspenders down to their endangered friend. She reached out and grabbed the contraption, letting go of a perfectly safe rock for the flimsy wiggliness of a nylon necktie, leather belt and stretchy suspenders. Eleven gave a tug on the tie and began to pull Serenity up to them. Hand over hand Eleven pulled her up. Nine then grabbed on, and then Ten. In no time, the Moon Goddess was saved from the approach of the bearfishes.

"Close," Eleven panted, out of breath, "Are you okay, Serenity?"

"What were those things?" Serenity asked, looking back down the waterfall at the retreating unknown fish bear thingies. "You've got some weird stuff in here, Doctor."

Nine, Ten and Eleven too looked downward at Serenity's aggressor. "They're called Bearfishes and they come from the vertical waterfalls of Amanue XII," Eleven told her. "When humans colonized the planet, feral populations of salmon took over the waterways. They bred the bearfishes to eat the upward moving salmon. When the fish populations were eradicated, they left the bears were to starve to death."

"But you saved them," Serenity asked. She no longer felt fear or dread toward the predators, but rather sympathy. She looked up at her Doctor approvingly and rather happy for not being eaten, "Just like you saved me."

Eleven grinned. "Well, it was a team effort," he admitted as he handed Nine back his belt and gave Ten his tie. "How'd you know to come and help us?" he asked his skinny Tenth self, unsure of why he chose to step in and help save the day.

Ten cinched the tie back up around his neck. "Well, I had a lovely chat with the TARDIS interface in a backup copy of my control room and when I finished, every warning light on your console was blinking. Someone down here was in dire straits, I reckoned, so I came to see if I could help."

Eleven happily looked at his old self. Any tension or animosity that may have been there before melted away and he could sense that Ten had made peace with what lie in store for him. Eleven knew it; because he felt apprehensive and afraid when he was the Tenth Doctor facing his end. "Well done. Now, we need to find that trans-spatial dimensional portal, so we can jet off and help Serenity restore order on her plane of existence."

"I can help there," Serenity told them. From the waterlogged pocket of her public school jacket she produced a strange metal disc. "It was in the waterfall; that's why I was in that awful predicament," she told them. "I knew when I saw it, that it had something to do with me. Like it was calling to me," she explained. Her tone had changed and was now slow and reminiscent, as if trying to remember exactly what the trans-spatial dimensional portal was and how it worked. From what the Doctors had told her, somewhere in her brain, all that information was stored.

The three Doctors examined it. The device was a metal disc with concentric circles and three points of reference. The reference points were marked with numerals 'I', 'II' and 'III'. Tracing along the lines, the Time Lords could tell that the circles ended at a center point, passing through 'I', 'II' and 'III' consecutively. One and two were very near to one another, and three was to the south of the first two points. The trans-spatial dimensional portal, it turns out, was something they all were familiar with.

"You are very Greek, aren't you?" Eleven asked his small friend. She raised an eyebrow at him, unsure of what he meant. He snickered in jest.

Ten and Nine gave it a closer look, knowing why Eleven made his joke. "This is very Greek, isn't it?" Nine asked.

Serenity was tired of not being clued in. "Besides a trans-spatial dimensional portal, what is it? I take it you've seen something like this?"

Ten grinned and nodded, almost excitedly. "Oh yes. This is called a Mandala. They were originally used in the ancient world by the Babylonians and Sumerians, then by Greeks and up to the present were used by Buddhists as religious symbols. The Babylonians believed that access to an ethereal plane could be achieved by using a Mandala. They wanted to be in close contact with the home of their god Marduk."

The Ninth Doctor took over. "Now, the three points indicate an energy passage. One, two and three typically are overlaid on a map and when a power source is activated simultaneously, it would open the door to another world. Sort of like a bus route, but with a trans-dimensional final stop… you clever, clever girl…" he spoke, looking at Serenity in amazement.

Serenity stood in the midst of the Doctors, looking at the Mandala. "I… I did all this?" she asked.

Eleven too was in awe at their small companion. "You certainly did, Serenity," he told her nodding his head. "Somewhere in the wonderful mind of yours, you knew that you were going to need help to stop Endymion, and you knew we were the only way to get to him. So you recruited the exact number of Doctors needed to get onto the plane of existence occupied by your parents," he told her, kneeling down. "You knew that it would take three TARDISes and three Doctors to help you. You knew that our experience in the Time War would let us interact with the physical world we're in now along with the ethereal world you come from. You needed someone who'd seen absolutely everything and was still open to all of it. You needed someone who understands the ramifications of meddling in history and the future all at once…"

Serenity was having a revelation. She took the Mandala from the Doctor and examined it in her tiny hands. "So my exile was from their plane of existence. If I go back…" she pondered. "Maybe that's why I was spared their fate… "

"Or maybe deep down in the depths of his heart, Endymion still loved you and couldn't do anything to hurt you," Eleven suggested, "Maybe the only good parts of him are the feelings he has for you." Eleven stood up. "I for one am hoping so…"

As he stood, Eleven noted that the sounds of beasts dueling had subsided. He aimed his Sonic Screwdriver skyward and activated it, switching the lamp back to daylight. From there, he carefully parted the undergrowth between him and the site of battle, hoping that they weren't still being stalked by a murderous night hare.

Masses of fur and spatters of blood lined the ground. One stood triumphant. And he greeted his favorite Doctor with a gentle meow. "Oh top work Geoff!" Eleven congratulated, going to meet his favorite giant housecat. He happily patted the cat on the head as Geoff licked his paws. "Everyone, Serenity, come and meet Geoff."

The Doctors acted as calm as ever, as if a giant housecat with a moustache was nothing new. Serenity, however, lit up, even more so than she did with the huge bunny. She handed the Mandala off to the Ninth Doctor and ran to Geoff. Excitedly, she began to pet him. The large cat seemed happy and he meowed and purred as she ran her hands through his soft fur. She even threw a leg over the neck of the giant kitty, Geoff not minding having her ride him like a horse. The cat, as if psychic, started moving the whole group back to the door of the botanical garden turned zoo.

The tiny girl beamed happiness as she rode the cat. The moment served as a reminder for all three Doctors why exactly they were helping her. Each one had interacted and grown to know Serenity at different points in her life. Eleven knew the small girl, Ten, the teenager.

The Ninth Doctor however didn't get much time with his twenty-something Selene. Watching the young girl play with Geoff, he couldn't help but wonder how great of a person she became when she was older. He was going to make it his personal mission to stop Endymion and alleviate her pain, by any means necessary, if need be. He stepped closer to the door and examined the Mandala in his hand. "If these three points correspond to us, our TARDISes, where do we have to be to open the portal?" he asked. Eleven and Ten looked over at him. "I mean, one and three are close to each other, which is me and him," he said, pointing at the Eleventh Doctor. "But number two is sort of south. Where are you supposed to go?" he asked Ten.

The Tenth Doctor joined him by the door. He examined the Mandala and saw where his concern was coming from. "I don't know," he admitted. "You were in London, and this one is up and left."

"I was in the Cotswolds," Eleven informed, joining himself at the door.

"So, London and the Cotswolds… what's down there?" Nine asked.

The trio looked over it, deducing nothing. "We'll need a map," the Doctors spoke, all in unison. "Serenity, we need to go to the control room," the Eleventh Doctor spoke, acting as intermediary for the youngest version of the moon goddess.

The young girl looked at her new feline friend, sad to leave him. "So you're just going to leave Geoff in here all by himself? He'll get lonely…" Her petting slowed and her voice became sorrowful, not wanting to leave Geoff all alone in the botanical garden.

Eleven neared her, stroking Geoff's head himself. "Don't be sad Serenity. I'll tell you what, when we've got this whole thing sorted out for you, and everything fixed for you and your parents, I'll find Geoff a nice loving home. You and me will take a trip in the TARDIS," he told her. She glanced up and smiled at him. "That's a girl. We'll find Geoff someplace that he'll be loved and hopefully they'll have plenty of rhinoceroses for him to eat…"

Serenity giggled as ten-year-old girls do. She stroked Geoff a few more times and then hopped down off his neck. "Goodbye Geoff," she said to the cat.

As if he understood, the giant, sticky tongue of the feline left his mouth and gave the girl a light lick.

The Doctor took Serenity's hand and the duo, along with Doctors Nine and Ten, started out the door. "I'll be back soon, Geoff," Eleven promised the cat, knowing he and Serenity were going to have to drop the feline off in a loving home, just as he promised.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The Doctors and Serenity arrived back in the control room. The flashing warning lights on the console had stopped and the entire place seemed calm as ever. "Right, I know I have a map around here someplace…" Eleven spoke, rubbing his chin. He went to the white leather chair that Serenity had sat on during their trip to the moon and gave it a spin. The back of the seat contained a pocket; chock full of paper maps and atlases.

"Well, that's normal. Behind the driver's seat in the pocket," Ten commented, "Do you have a 'new car' scented air freshener around here too?" he asked, noting the similarity in this instance between the TARDIS and a rather everyday car.

Eleven looked at his past self as he opened the map to an overlay of Europe. He set it on the leather seat and looked back at the map. "I like the pine scented ones, not new car, but I don't have any right now," he informed. Nine stepped forward and presented the Mandala to his future self. "Thank you. Now, Serenity, where is Northleach on the map?" he asked.

The tiny girl got on her knees and examined the map of Britain, which was isolated from the rest of Europe by the English Channel. She craned over the western edge, looking for Northleach on the map. "There," she said, pointing. "There's Northleach."

Eleven took the Mandala and placed the hole marked 'III' over it. The hole was much larger than the village on the map and encompassed about 20 miles of countryside around the place. Something was amiss, however. "Well, I wasn't expecting that," he said, dumbfounded by what he saw. Nine and Ten stepped closed, looking at what had buffaloed the newest Doctor.

"It's in the middle of the Channel," Ten commented, seeing that the spot marked 'I' sat just off the coast of Calais and the 'II' was north of Norway. "What'd you do wrong?"

"My map must be the wrong scale," Eleven determined, "Bugger."

"Do you have a different one?" Nine asked.

"Not for the whole of Europe, which we'll need to get the 'II' spot included," Eleven told him.

Serenity looked at the map, pondering the quandary faced by the Time Lords. The three points called to her, the ancient part of her being acted upon by the Mandala. She reached out and touched the ancient talisman. She found her finger drawn to the center point, from where they were supposed to enter the ethereal plane from. Her finger traced over it, then, for seemingly no reason at all, she twisted the center with her thumb and forefinger.

The concentric circles in the middle of the Mandala all changed positions, moving the three points and changing the diameter overlay on the points themselves. She slid the 'III' spot back over Northleach. 'I' now rested over London, where the Ninth Doctor was, and now 'II' rested over the site of a huge rift in the fabric of space-time already known to the Doctor.

"Oh, I'm supposed to be in Cardiff," the Tenth Doctor spoke, seeing that Serenity had cracked it. "Well done, Serenity. Blimey, Cardiff… I hope they've rebuilt it," he added.

"Rebuilt?" Nine asked, "What happened to it?"

"You've still got on that Chronon blocker?" Ten asked. Nine held his wrist in the air, showing this fancy Skaro based bracelet that was keeping him immune from knowing too much of his own future. "Well, in a fit of hot headed human politics, someone tried to take out Jack and the Torchwood Team by blowing up the Torchwood Hub under the Roald Dahl Plass. Some flap about alien contact or something… I didn't get involved," the Doctor told him, saddened, "I couldn't. That was one of those times when I just had to look away. But Jack and his team got everything sorted… poor Ianto. Anyway, how can we get back to our TARDISes and activate the Mandala?" His question was clearly intended for the tiny moon goddess among them.

Serenity stood and went to the console. Despite that glimmer of help with the Mandala and the map, she had no recollection of how to activate it. "I… I don't know," she stumbled as her brain worked along, trying to remember.

"Oh, c'mon Serenity," Eleven told his tiny pal as he looked over to her. "Somewhere in that mind rests all the knowledge of a moon goddess that's older than I am. That's a rare thing. I don't often come across people older than me. Concentrate hard; think… how can we activate the Mandala nodes?"

The girl's face became blank, empty in the Doctor's request. "I can't," she told them. Her mind was muddled in the thoughts of other people. She tried as hard as she could to think past them, using every bit of concentration available to her. "Three… three Doctors…" she started.

"Yes, it takes three Doctors," Eleven told her.

"No… but also three… three… three of me…" she spoke, voicing a revelation. The Doctors too had heard what she said. The tiny girl in their midst was only a part of moon goddess that needed their help. Accessing the Mandala nodes and going to the plane of the Titans required all three versions, Serenity, Rena and Selene acting as guide for the Doctors. "Take my hand," she instructed all three, holding out her hand, palm upward.

Nine, Ten and Eleven all looked uneasily at one another, and then put their hands over hers.

In a whoosh of blue light, Serenity and the Eleventh Doctor found themselves alone in his control room. The place was normal, everything working as it should have been. "We can begin," Serenity said. She took the Doctor's hand and led him back to the console. "Take us back to Northleach."

The Eleventh Doctor prepared his craft, jamming away on the typewriter, setting the throttle speed and making way for the journey back to the Cotswolds.

"What? No little catchphrase?" Serenity asked.

"Geronimo!" he told her, waking the old Police Box up.

Across time and space, in the hour or less _Coleco_ parking section of Nova Atar's Genesis wing, the Tenth Doctor found himself back in his own TARDIS. A flash of blue deposited him in his yellow jump seat, just as he should have been. The coral uprights and porthole windows were inviting and he was quite happy to be back in his own time.

"Doctor?" a girl's voice beckoned from the wooden door. Rena had found her way from the Sega lobby to the TARDIS and had now pushed her way past the creaky wooden door and gone to the Console. He rose and greeted her by the Time Rotor. "It's much different than I remember," she remarked, looking around. Her attention settled back to him. "Shall we make for Cardiff?"

The Doctor grinned at her, glad to see his friend. He hurriedly jammed away at the console, spinning the atomic accelerator, disengaging the handbrake, and setting the controls for the site of the spatial rift in Cardiff.

The callow youth recalled a curious trait of her Doctor from when she was a child. "I remember from when I was a little girl that the older you kept bringing up some Indian. It was his catchphrase, I guess… Geronimo, maybe? Do you have one?" she asked.

He smiled at her and kicked on the Time Rotor. He dug into his jacket pocket for the mechanism needed to thwart Endymion. It shimmered in the golden light of the TARDIS. "Do I have Indians? As a rule, no," he joked. A smile crossed his lips. "Catchphrases… well, allons-y!"

For the second time, the Ninth Doctor found himself lying on the cold steel floor of his TARDIS. The ceiling hadn't changed any and he still remembered a good deal, he thought, despite having what looked like a Chronon blocker on his wrist. A gentle touch stroked his short hair.

"Welcome back," an older female voice spoke.

His steely blue eyes saw his friend Selene cradling his head in her lap. He took one look and remembered the curiosity that surrounded her; the dead parents and strange boyfriend. And he promised to show her about, to help her forget her troubles. _'Maybe the Chronon blocker had worked?'_ he pondered, not that he would have been able to remember why. "So, where should I take you?" he asked, pulling himself up to the Console.

The eldest moon goddess recalled everything. She remembered the moon and the lava beast and the Three Doctor's discussing the Mandala and meeting Geoff the cat in the depths of the TARDIS, but for causality's sake, the Doctor couldn't know any of it. "Can you show me London, from above that new construction at Canary Wharf?" she asked, playing the hapless and heartbroken damsel.

"Really? I mean, that's a bit easy. But, whatever, no problem," he told her. He thought nothing of it and set the controls to her very specific destination. "Well, I won't need this anymore, I guess," he said, taking off the Skaro made Chronon blocker and putting it in one of the underfoot storage bins. He spotted the self-written post-it note on the space time visualizer. "Oh yeah, Nestene Consciousness," he spoke, as he pointed to the note, "Remind me later and we'll have a look at that."

The Time Rotor started groaning up and down in the melodious tone that it did. "That's, that's…" Selene started, in awe, knowing she would soon be reunited with the other Doctors from the other future.

"Fantastic!" the Doctor told her, excited as the TARDIS started groaning away.

As the Ninth Doctor's TARDIS disappeared and then reappeared high above Canary Wharf, a curious effect overcame the old Police Box. The whole control room, usually a hue of yellowish gold, turned one of bright blue. Selene wasn't worried at all. The previously Chronon blocker clad Doctor was a bit more concerned.

"What on Clom is this?" he asked, noting the blue glow. "Are my engines okay? What's wrong with you? I don't have to run you in after the console change, do I?" he asked the old box. He frantically jammed away at the controls, trying to find out why his TARDIS was off-color.

Selene reached out, placing a calming hand on his frantic extremities. He looked up at her, curiously. "Just relax, Doctor. I trusted you once, when I was very young. And now I need you to trust me." Her eyes pierced his, calming his tumultuous soul that still believed Daleks were eradicated in the Time War and that he was the only Time Lord left.

The Ninth Doctor nodded in agreement and instinctively took his hands off the controls, as if her touch calmed his very soul. From her, images of two skinny men, a giant cat called Geoff, and a Mandala node to a Titanic plane filled his mind. Remembering much, the Ninth Doctor relaxed.

The Millennium Center at the Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff echoed a strange scratchy noise out into the harbor. The monuments of the Plass had been reconstructed since the 456 Incident, but now, no Torchwood hub rested beneath the ground; the group had been disbanded. As it had done many times before, the TARDIS touched down in the exact same spot under the waterfall, materializing fully.

"Well, now what?" the Tenth Doctor asked, unsure what to do to activate his part of the Mandala node.

"You won't need to do anything," Rena told him. She closed her eyes and whisked herself into the past and future simultaneously, knowing that her oldest self and the youngest Doctor had begun the process. "It's started," she confidently told him.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Of its own accord, the Time Rotor started up and down, screeching and wailing away without any input from the Time Lord. The subtle hues of yellow in the control room faded and were replaced by the blue glow that the Doctor had seen earlier when he witnessed Serenity's power.

Like someone had control over a flip book of reality, images of the older TARDIS began to superimpose themselves on the current control room. The console and Time Rotor were the same, and slowly, the picture began to fill in the Ninth Doctor and the elder Selene.

The two Doctor's noticed one another, Ten fully expecting Nine. "Nearly done," the Tenth Doctor told his predecessor. He looked at Rena, who was visibly saddened by the joining TARDISes. "What is it?"

"You'll find out," she told him. "I told you when I was a little girl." A tear rolled down her cheek, tearing at the Doctor's hearts.

On the newest TARDIS, Serenity took her seat on the leather chair just off of the atomic accelerator. "We're almost there," she spoke, looking up at the oldest Doctor. The excitement and naivety had worn off and the tiny Moon Goddess had grown concerned.

Eleven turned to her, after setting the TARDIS back in Northleach. "How will this all work? What do I need to do?" he asked, kneeling down to her. The Time Rotor started off, bringing the three TARDISes together.

She looked at him, at the silly bowtie and swoopy haircut; her goofy Doctor. "You won't need to do anything. When the Ninth Doctor activated the rift above Canary Wharf, he set the whole process in motion. Each node will draw TARDIS to TARDIS, Doctor to Doctor. You and your predecessors don't need to do anything, just hang on."

"And what about you?" he asked, concerned about his tiny friend, that despite being older than him, would always be a ten-year-old girl in his hearts.

"I don't know," Serenity told him. "I don't think it'll end well, though. I haven't been to the Titan's plane since I was exiled. It was not a place friendly to corporeal beings before, and with a twisted Endymion running the place, it might be even worse. You can't count on me," she revealed.

The coppery tones of the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS faded away and were slowly being replaced by the blue glow that had encompassed Serenity earlier. Faded, worn images of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors became visible as the TARDIS images began to overlap, the Coral desktop clashing with the golden tones of the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS.

Eleven turned back to his friend. "I don't think I'll be much good to you," Serenity told her Doctor. "Going back there, returning from exile… I don't know how I would react. Whatever it is, I can tell it won't be good…" Eleven looked disconcerted at the revelation. "It's your fault, you know… making me come with you," she lightly chuckled. Her claim didn't help his mood. "But it's okay… I hear things, you know, since remembering who I am and all. They're like memories and messages from ages long ago, from one end of time and space to the other. I hear chatter from all kinds of planets and worlds across all of time and space. I've watched you in all your adventures… and everyone notices. Did you know, you come up more often than anyone else?" The Doctor listened intently.

"Someone once asked, 'Is the Doctor worth the monsters?'" she told him.

"Serenity, what are you doing?" the Doctor asked as a sick feeling grew in his stomach.

"Everywhere, people call out to you for help when no one else can. And you always come. Someone else said one time that you were dying and the universe went into an uproar and everyone in it wanted to know how to help you. You are so loved, Doctor." He listened intently, not knowing if he could stop her from going. "You're the voice of Never-Never-Land; the innocence and dreams of every man. You're a journey into a child-man's heart. You're madness. You're a fantastical story that becomes real and, at least for me, you're every memory that I'll hold dear." A tear grew in the corner of the Time Lord's eye.

"You're loved by everyone. By those who know you and those that don't… by Rose, and Martha, Sarah Jane, Donna, Jack, Mickey, Wilfred, Elton Pope, Sally Sparrow, Mrs. Redfern, those wacky LINDA people, Amy, Rory, River Song… me. Is the Doctor worth the Monsters? Yes. You are so worth the monsters… This time with you, no matter how brief, was so fantastic. You are worth the monsters. Because, no matter what happens to me, only you can help."

The Time Lord could feel her slipping away. "Serenity, don't give up. You crossed whole timelines and millions of miles of space to find me. You're strong, you can stay here, you just need to fight it," the Time Lord urgently told her, not wanting to lose his newest friend. He grabbed onto her hands, unable to let go.

Her physical form started to fade, then become solid again. Slowly, as the other TARDISes became more solid, her fades became worse and worse. "Remember how I told you in the pub that I was sad all the time?" she asked him. He held onto her hand and nodded. "I think I was sad, not only for my parents, but for you too. I'm going to miss you…"

"Serenity! No!" the Doctor protested.


	10. Chapter 10

In the Realm of Titans Chapter 10

The three TARDISes combined into one, joining together as they progressed through the void in space time. Canary Wharf became Cardiff, which turned into Northleach, which led to the Titanic plane. The Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors all stood united again in the newest control room, all of them around an empty chair. Eleven looked at the empty seat before him and missed his newest friend.

Rage built inside him, knowing his action caused Serenity's end. His hatred bubbled and boiled over, easily eclipsing how he used to feel about the survival of the Daleks or the pain from losing his friends at the end of his Tenth incarnation. "This is my fault… Serenity," he spoke from a clenched jaw, "I promise, I will make this right. I promise I won't let you down. If it takes everything that we have, we won't disappoint you. Because you believed in us, and your Doctors won't disappoint."

Eleven stood and faced his past selves, pushing back a tear. Nine and Ten both knew exactly how he felt, because they were feeling it as well. "I remember all of it," Nine revealed, showing his bare wrist. "After I took off the Chronon blocker, Selene helped me remember everything about you two. I… I can't let her down," he meekly spoke, remembering the oldest Moon Goddess who needed to forget her troubled life.

Ten took a different stance on their missing friend, having known her best when she was a teenager... a rebellious, untrusting teenager. "Rena was so scared when she hung onto me in that dungeon," Ten told them. "That's a lot of trust to put in someone you just met. She even asked me if I was a drug dealer…" he laughed. Watching his future and past selves missing their friend made him miss his. He dug into his pocket and removed the mechanism that she planted on him on Nova Atar. He looked at the cogs set into the shiny brass, knowing full well that this little machine was, at least in this case, the best hope they had. "But she trusted me; trusted all of us. We need to end this. If we can stop Endymion, maybe…"

"Maybe we can get her back," Eleven spoke. He stood determinedly and made for the door. Ten and Nine followed behind, each of them wanting to get the small girl back as bad as their predecessor did.

The wooden doors creaked open, letting the Time Lords out into a world of immense and complex beauty. The skies were shades of purple and magenta, hues often not found on many worlds the Doctors had visited. The sky seemed millions of miles long and the grass beneath their feet was black in color. It was a wild frontier unlike anything they'd encountered before.

"Well, this is a bit new," the Ninth Doctor commented as he looked around at the strange orange colored trees and odd looking boulders sunken into the ground. A shrill shriek echoed in the air high above them. "I haven't seen a pterodactyl in ages," Nine remarked, seeing an aerial dinosaur swimming in the magenta sky.

"Maybe this is where the one in Cardiff came from," Ten spoke, recalling a pterodactyl that Torchwood Three recovered and kept in their underground hub. "The spatial rift leads from here into the spots that Serenity told us to go when we activated the Mandala node, maybe all the stuff that floated into the universe from the rift came from here. The Void ship Torchwood One had, the pterodactyl…"

Eleven also recalled Torchwood Three, and then some of the unsavory elements they dealt with. "Oh I hope not. If the pterodactyl came from here, maybe those things that they called Weevils did as well." He could only think about the alien infestation of Cardiff by what Jack and company called Weevils. They were man sized, but displayed only the most basic animalistic instincts and had a sharp set of teeth to match. Brown skinned and hugely ugly, no one seemed to know where they came from, not even the well-travelled Doctor.

The Eleventh Doctor took out his Sonic Screwdriver and let the tool act as his guide. He scanned the frontier, searching for any sign of activity, life or electronic signals that he could find. Off ahead, he found at least one of the three. "That way," he told his predecessors.

He led the charge, through the black grasses and magenta skies, over a hill. The landscape went from one of pastoral and serene but ultimately awkward beauty to one of devastation, in any color scheme. Large rips of the planet had been scooped out, like a gigantic steam shovel was left in autonomous mode and had gone on a rampage. The air became hazy and the bright purple hue faded to a dark, almost orange color. All the trees were felled as far as the eye could see, save for a few odd stands of trees, and the few patches of grass that remained smoked and smoldered, as if burnt by nothing other than massive power.

The sight was unexpected and caught all three Doctors off guard. They all stood silently, drinking in the view of the ruined landscape. They all wanted the awkward trees and magenta sky and black grass back. Those were normal. This… this was reminiscent of war. And it was something that they were all too familiar with. "I don't like this at all," the Tenth Doctor commented, looking out over the smoldering fires that never extinguished.

"Me either," Nine agreed as he recalled the Time War of which he just finished fighting in.

Eleven kept his Screwdriver out and scanned ahead. The blip he was reading was through the ruination. "Well, we need to head that way," he told his predecessors. He examined the Screwdriver having grown quiet and sullen. "It's some kind of power source ahead," he spoke. "If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably wherever Endymion is getting his power from." He started again, silently and adamantly.

For as much as the Tenth Doctor had hated how goofy he became, he could tell that losing Serenity had weighed heavily upon his future self; perhaps as much as losing Rose had done to him. With each silent, eerie step forward, the Doctor could tell that his successor was not being true to the man he normally was. The unblinking, unsmiling man he looked at leading him was more akin to Wolverine from the _X-Men_ than the Doctor. Even his past self, who was now walking next to him, still looked in awe and amazement at the wonders of the universe, despite being a war veteran in the bloodiest conflict that, in the end, cost him everything.

"Are you all right?" the Tenth Doctor asked. He took a few large steps forward, catching up with his newest version, "You don't seem you usual, happy and glib self."

Eleven paid no attention as the trio traversed the burnt stretches of land toward the power reading. "I'm perfectly fine," he spoke, "Everything's just dandy. How are you?"

"Concerned," Ten flatly told him. Eleven stopped for a moment. "From the moment I met you, you were… different. Instead of worrying about causality or why the three of us were in one spot, you commented about how squeaky my voice went; that's you. You're not the serious type. That's him," Ten spoke, tossing a thumb at his past self. Nine smiled dumbly.

Eleven took a step closer to his old self. "You and I both know full well how furious you and I are capable of becoming. You remember how angry we became when the Wire took Rose's face? How about when Martha got kidnapped in New New York? The infected water on Bowie Base One on Mars in 2059? You know full well the extent of our ferocity. This is no different."

Ten did recall all of them. "But after the rage is gone, who we are, how we act is more important. I was so wrong on Mars. I took it too far. It wasn't my place to change the timeline like that; to act out of character. And I've realized that. That chat I had with the TARDIS helped me to realize that. She showed me that our legacy was safe with you. That goofy joviality you have is what makes you, you. It's what Serenity loved about you; the Stetson and bowtie and general absurdity. She wouldn't want you acting all sullen."

The world around them flashed a hue of blue, unnoticed by the Doctors. "You're right," the Eleventh Doctor admitted, realizing his error. He looked at the short hair and steely blue eyes of his predecessor, who had successfully reminded him of who he was. "We should get moving." The Two Doctors started again.

"Hold on… this isn't right," the Ninth Doctor spoke, as he followed his successor. An odd feeling gripped him, one strangely familiar but somewhat alien.

"What isn't?" Eleven asked. "It's the two of us, heading for the blip to try and save Serenity, just like before."

"But… but it's not right," Nine protested. His face crumpled as he looked around, trying as hard as he could to remember something long forgotten. "We're missing something. What is it?"

Eleven looked toward their destination and started again. "I haven't the faintest what you're bleating on about," he told his past self, the only person there with him. "Just you and me, trekking across this barren plain to what I'm assuming is some sort of castle or mechanized war fortress." He stopped and turned around. Nine hadn't followed him. "Are you coming?"

The Ninth Doctor looked up at him, his eyes misshapen and sad looking. "Can't you feel it?" he asked as an empty and hollow feeling gripped his soul. "It's… it's so… wrong. Why can't you feel it?" He swallowed loudly and put a hand over his racing hearts. "It's there, just there. I've felt it before. When someone messed with my timeline… why haven't you noticed?"

Eleven looked at his immediate forerunner curiously. "Maybe if something is affecting you, my damaged calm is protecting me. My only concern right now is getting Serenity back. The fury of the Time Lord…" he spoke.

"But a man is a sum of his memories, a Time Lord even more so," Nine spoke. "I've said that… one time, long ago. On the Eye of Orion, just before that business in the Death Zone on Gallifrey." He recalled five versions of himself being drafted unwillingly by Chancellor Borusa to play the Game of Rassilon. The ultimate prize was immortality.

The Eleventh Doctor started slowly back to his precursor, recalling playing the Game of Rassilon with four other versions of himself. "Is it like you're being diminished, whittled away piece by piece; like great chunks of your past are detaching themselves like melting icebergs?" he asked, curiously. Eleven raised an eyebrow over his past self.

Nine nodded almost furiously. "Yeah, that's it, you know the feeling. But it doesn't feel like it's my past; it's like an unfulfilled future…" Nine spoke.

"But your future is standing right in front of you," Eleven spoke, patting himself on the chest. "I'm right here and nothing's wrong with me. Maybe it's a regeneration spasm?" he pondered.

"No," Nine protested, still shaking his head. "It's something else. I know you're the future me, what I'll become one day, but you're not right somehow."

Eleven was growing doubtful of the whole thing. "I don't think you're done regenerating and it's making you a bit crazy…"

His patience was wearing thin. "The first thing you did after you regenerated, what was it?" Nine asked.

Eleven recalled his exploding console room and falling out of the sky around London. "I crashed into the shed of a young Amelia Pond. There was a crack in the fabric of space in her bedroom wall," Eleven explained.

"What were you wearing?" Nine asked. He recalled awaking in the awful dress of his past self.

The strange feeling now fell over the Eleventh Doctor. "I had on a tattered blue shirt, maroon tie and Converse trainers," he recalled. It didn't make any sense. "But you never wore anything like that. Why would I have that on when you became me?"

Nine had a theory. "Start counting. From seven on up," he instructed.

"Seven, eight, nine, eleven…" the Doctor spoke, paying little attention to the counting exercise. The odd feeling that gripped him grew in size and intensity. "It's like I forgot one. An important one, maybe even the most important one…"

Nine's theory was gaining traction. "There's another of us. Another Doctor. In between you and me; the intermediary. With him gone, nothing makes sense. I mean, what's the atomic weight of cobalt?"

"Well, that's a bit non sequitur…" That wasn't even a challenge for a scientific mind like the Doctor's. The elements were kiddy stuff for Time Lords. Yet still he struggled. "I… I can't," he finally said, puzzled.

Nine nodded excitedly. "See, nothing makes sense. It's like something prime and elemental was ripped from the universe. We should be able to think of the atomic weight of cobalt, because we know what it is. We just can't express it…"

Another flash of blue lit the sky. Like a shadow shouting at them at the top of its lungs, both Doctors felt overcome by the word 'decimals.'

"Right, Decimals," Eleven spoke. "59.8; that's the atomic weight of cobalt. How could I forget that?"

"I don't think we did," Nine told him, trying to keep his train of thought on track. "I think we simply forgot about decimals. It's so simple… we have that many fingers. Decades, decapods, the atomic number of neon, the number of hydrogen atoms in butane, the Ten Commandments and ten Rorschach inkblot tests, and Ten Downing Street… Ten!"

Eleven was slowly becoming a believer. "The Tenth Doctor…" his voice waivered. "The Tenth Doctor…" he repeated. Images of his past life and all his great adventures came flooding back. "The family of blood, the Titanic, Empress of the Racnoss, Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, Torchwood, saving River Song in the Library, Madame du Pompadour, the Adipose, Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott…" The torrent continued, rushing back to with the ferocity of a thousand hurricanes. "Dogs with no noses on Barcelona… the Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith… driving the final nail into the coffin of the Time War… how could I have forgotten him?"

"I think something made us forget," Nine spoke. The memory shot at him suddenly. "Because he had the machine to stop Endymion in his pocket. He was right here. You were talking to him before, not me. I don't know what you're talking about on Bowie Base One. I didn't do that, or I haven't done that yet. But he did."

"I can't believe I forgot him," Eleven commented. "I wouldn't be the man I am without him… how could I forget?"

"Well, don't beat yourself up too much," Nine told him. "I think your little friend knew her boyfriend could do stuff like this and that's another reason she recruited the three of us. If one of us were to go missing or be removed from a timeline, the others would know instantly. It's almost like the evil here can alter reality, or at least our perception of reality… clever little girl, that Serenity."

"Yes she is," Eleven spoke, reveling in what he and this suddenly new Tenth Doctor had discussed. He had to be himself for Serenity's sake. "How about we split up? I'll go and try to find some way to restore Serenity so she can help us and you go and find our missing Doctor?"

"Fine with me," Nine agreed. "I'll work out what happened to our missing Tenth Doctor, you go on and scout ahead, maybe you can find where Endymion lives. I mean Serenity's power came from the palace on the moon; I reckon Endymion's power is the same."

Eleven looked at the Ninth Doctor, glad there was more than one of him to deal with the Endymion situation. "Remember Borusa and the Death Zone? Together, four Doctors easily outmatched him, and he was one of the greatest Time Lords ever."

"He'd have really been in trouble if the scarfed one wouldn't have gotten stuck in the Time Vortex… So, this Endymion doesn't stand much of a chance, does he?" Nine spoke, finishing Eleven's thought. "Go on. Go and find your girl, I'll get cracking and find our lost self."

Eleven nodded goodbye. "Take care."

"I will," Nine assured him.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Eleven carried on ahead while the Ninth Doctor collected himself for a moment. He stood in the center of one of the huge rips in the ground, caused by who-knows-what. He could only guess at what could cause such damage, but to him, it seemed as if it was caused by some giant war machine, built by man to help defy the Titans. Maybe it was something like a huge robot or a tank that moved along the ground with Archimedes screws. It was all a guess, but in any case, the Doctor didn't want to run into any of them.

As he collected himself, he looked around at the ground beneath his feet. He could make out his own shoe print in the soft dirt, as well as the Eleventh Doctor's boot heel and toe. There was in fact a third; one with a checker pattern and lines where the foot arched. In a triangle bit, he could make out the word 'Converse.' It had to have belonged to the Tenth Doctor.

The Doctor followed where it looked like the footprint went. The footprint stepped backward, and then appeared as if it was drug off. "He didn't just blink out of reality," the Doctor told himself. "He was dragged off. But why didn't I remember? It appears Endymion _can_ alter perceptions of reality. He made Ten disappear and then altered our memories so that anything relating to the number 10 was forgotten…" The Ninth Doctor stood and faced the direction that his predecessor was removed. He started in that direction, which was directed to a stand of the strange orange trees.

As he walked along following the drag marks in the burnt earth, he began thinking. _'If he could abduct one of us, maybe he took Serenity?'_ he wondered. "Maybe he could whisk her right from the TARDIS. It stands to reason the defensive systems wouldn't work on a different plane of reality; the Time Lords never tested for that. But why would he let us remember her? If nothing else, it's a driving force for my successor. Does he want us to stop him? Then why kidnap Ten? None of this makes any sense," Nine commented to himself.

The Doctor soon arrived at the stand of trees, which was set apart from the odd looking orange-colored forest behind it. The grouping of strange fauna stood alone, as if shunned and exiled from the forest. Like he'd seen his successor do, the Ninth Doctor removed his Sonic Screwdriver and set about with the new-to-him scan function. The blue light from the end of the Screwdriver shone over the orange bark. Oddly, the strange orange trees reacted, reforming and changing color when the Sonic beam hit them. "Well that's weird, it shouldn't work on wood," the Doctor commented. He took a step closer to the tree and gave it a rap with his knuckle. It echoed a hollow metallic sound. "Metal trees?" the Doctor asked, "Why on Clom are there metal trees?"

As the Doctor examined the strange metal vegetation, the loose grass behind him was disturbed. He paid no attention to the silent danger approaching unbeknownst to him. With every scan, as he became more and more engrossed, he forgot about the world around him. Like a thoughtless quarry, he was being stalked.

Like a cobra pursuing its prey, an orange-colored vine silently moved toward him from underneath the tall, black grass that encompassed the stand of orange colored trees. The vine, very much unlike a vine, rose up and pressed back, waiting for an appropriate moment. Then, when he was at his most vulnerable, it struck.

The metal vine lashed out and whipped the back of the Doctor, giving him a nasty shock. But his thick leather coat absorbed the brunt of the hit, letting him quickly react. The Time Lord turned to see an orange tree vine coiled back like a venomous snake. "Oh, so trees aren't really trees. You're some sort of defense mechanism," the Doctor spoke, staring down the vine. The Doctor readied his Sonic Screwdriver. "Well, bring it on then," he told it.

The snake vine lunged. The Time Lord ducked to the side. After the miss, they repositioned again, as if staring each other down. The vine struck again. Once more, the Doctor ducked. This time however, the swift Time Lord gave the vine a buzz with his Sonic Screwdriver. The overly aggressive vine got a shock then writhed and wiggled violently. "Oh that got ya, eh?" he asked it. He slowly stood, keeping his sonic beam trained on the near dead metallic vine. As the last flicker of life left the vine, the Doctor stood triumphant. "Well, it doesn't hurt, kill or maim, unless you happen to be a metal snake vine," he spoke as he looked approvingly at his new Sonic.

As he stood victorious, the ground beneath him began to shake. At first it was only a minor tremor, but then quickly graduated to something more like a full-fledged earthquake. He looked around, trying to spot if anything on the surface was creating the tremors.

As quickly as the Doctor's eyes panned around, he noticed a curious oddity. The huge rips in the ground that he and his successor had been passing over were exactly the same ovoid shape as the strange island of trees. His gaze slowly came back to the shunned forest, which was actually no forest at all.

The weird orange trees just before him began to uproot themselves, all on their own. Long metallic sectioned legs stood up from the black grass, causing another great rip in the landscape. The legged trees, which now resembled a giant spider, moved uneasily from side to side, as if trying to get footing. When it had stabilized, the spider began a slow march toward the Doctor.

Since his regeneration only hours ago, the Doctor was ill-prepared to deal with any sort of crazy adventure. But he had been thrust into one, with a Moon Goddess and two future copies of himself. With each nearer spider step, his old instincts began to take over. On more than one occasion in the past, the Doctor found himself outnumbered by Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans… by any number of enemies really. All those times he only had a single recourse available to him. "Well, time to run!" he told himself.

At a dead sprint, he took off in the opposite direction of the metal spider. With each great step away, his tiny Time Lord legs were eclipsed by the great stride of a metal spider that stood twenty feet tall. Quickly, the spider had overtaken him. Deeming running anymore a futile effort, the Doctor stopped and readied his Screwdriver again.

A transparent red beam shot down from the bottom of the spider, encapsulating him. He tried to activate his Screwdriver, but the tool did nothing; the beam had apparently incapacitated it. "Oh bother," he spoke as he tucked the Sonic nicely away. He then looked upwards as the glow grew and became more intense.

When the glow had subsided, the Ninth Doctor found himself on a cold, hard stone floor. Old torches lit the place and the air had the smell of mildew and what he could only describe as whimsy, possibly even magic. "Oh, where am I?" he asked himself as he rose. Once on his feet, he could see quite clearly he'd been placed in a prison. The four walls around him consisted of thick iron bars and there was no gate or door in the traditional sense. He peered out between the slats of iron, trying to gain a perspective on the place.

It was massive, near as he could see. His cell was one of many, hundreds, possibly even thousands, all separate and none of them with a window or near a wall. It was maximum isolation for a multitude of prisoners. Moving around from each wall, he could make out a pile of bones in the cell next to him. A few feet away in another direction, more bones in a different cell. They were pure white and looked like they'd been cleaned by a lab. "You must have been here thousands of years," he told the bones. A hundred and eighty degrees from his position, another set of bones rested. He was incarcerated in a tomb of thousands of dead men. "The bones of Titans, I reckon… well, now what?" he asked himself.

The Doctor paced around the cell, unsure quite what to do next. He sat down in a corner to quietly think. The Doctor's greatest strength, among many, was his ability to think his way out of problems. In the past, he'd always been ingenious. And the Ninth Doctor, just starting off in life, would be no exception.

He removed his Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket and looked at it curiously. "Well, I didn't know you could scan until I saw the other Doctor do it. Can you maybe age iron as well?" he asked the tool. He fiddled around with the power button, tapping it on and off, hoping there was a setting for the task at hand. "You know, I bet if I can match the specific molecular resonance of the iron, I can start them moving. If they're moving, they'll get hot and if I get them hot enough, I could melt them right out of their casting…"

He stood, reinvigorated. The Sonic Screwdriver clicked on and bathed the nearest iron bar in a shower of blue light and whirring noises. Ever so gradually, the iron bar began to glow, first a reddish brown color, then orange. It grew hotter and hotter. Buildups of grit on the bar burned away as it grew as hot as the sun. The sonic beam kept pulsating, and slowly but surely, the iron bar began to bend and fall out of its mooring in the stone floor and ceiling. It clanged loudly, echoing though the vast prison.

"Well, this place is huge," the Doctor commented to himself as he listened to the echo. He stepped back from the path of the hot iron, letting it fall to the ground harmlessly. "Well, onwards then…" He began to Sonic the next bar, repeating the process and then moved on to the next. Quickly, he'd melted himself a path out of his cell and into the empty vastness of the huge bastille.

Instinctively, the Doctor began his trek through the void to hopefully find the lost Tenth Doctor. As each cell passed by, the Doctor noticed that each one contained a small pile of bones. Clearly the prison was built to house whoever opposed Endymion, once he had taken control of the Titanic plane. The cells numbered into the thousands, and each one housed the remains of someone. Some were small and clearly children, while others were large, hulking people. Apparently Endymion's rage knew no bounds. "I hope my successor isn't one of these piles of bones… blimey that'd bugger up the whole timeline," the Doctor told himself. The lone Time Lord continued on, growing angry and sad at the apparent slaughter of all the prison's inhabitants. "From the bottom of my hearts, I hope we can help all these poor people… died in the name of jealously… that's awful."

The darkness that permeated the air and was obstructed by the odd torch soon came to an abrupt end and for no apparent reason at all. The row of cells in front of the Doctor glowed a strange bluish-green color, very similar to what Selene looked like when she transformed herself into the old woman on the Moon.

The ever-curious side of the Time Lord took over. "I wonder what you are?" he asked it. His head craned in toward the glow as he compared what he was seeing with his encyclopedic knowledge of the universe. The strange glow left the cells and pulled itself together, manifesting itself as a human sized blur of glowing light. It came to rest just in front of the Doctor. "Some sort of life form, I imagine. A jailer maybe?"

A human shaped hand exited from the glow, reaching for the Time Lord. As quick as ever, the Doctor ducked to the side. He grabbed onto the hand and began a back-and-forth tug of war with the disembodied hand. "I'm getting really tired of your sneak attack rubbish," he told the hand, thinking back to the snake vine attack. Yet with each pull, the Doctor felt himself growing sad and wishing that he had traded places with his elder self for some reason.

The tug of war continued and soon the Time Lord gained the upper hand. With a mighty yank, he pulled the detached hand from the glowing pillar of light, tugging a whole body out from the all-encompassing light. Before the Doctor stood a hideous creature; one with blue and green skin that looked as if it belonged to a leper. Bits of flesh fell and decayed with each and every move. The thing's eyes were large and blank, showing none of the redeeming qualities that eyes so often communicate well. "Blimey you're ugly," the Doctor told it. "So you're like the song then? Waited on a line of greens and blues… like shades of sadness and jealousy. I bet you're the embodiment of those two awful emotions, made real to guarantee that no one escapes." The beast stood unblinking, staring a hole in the Time Lord. "You don't consume the prisoners or kill them; you just touch them and make them so sad and miserable they return to their cells… until they die."

The Ninth Doctor smiled. "Well, it's a good thing I'm the one down here then. I've seen things. I've seen the destruction of whole societies; the murder of millions. I've seen the downfall of entire planets and whole timelines. I've seen sadness. And jealously, and hate and anger! I've seen every negative emotion in the universe, a thousand times over!"

He smiled as he thought of his now-dead race and what good things came from the Time War. His tone softened and eyes dropped. "But I've also seen happiness. And joy, and love, pleasure, and awe. Fearlessness, euphoria and ecstasy. Wonder. And hope, there's always hope." He could only think about the hope that he'd see his older self happy with Serenity again and he could once more see Selene. His gaze moved from the floor to the leprous guard. "A sad and jealous jailer might work well on soft Titans who know only Earth and this place, but on a Time Lord who has experienced a wide range of everything, you're nothing. Now bugger off; I've got work to do."

The Doctor simply turned away and began walking again, not paying any attention to the bluish green jailer. The soft greenish blue hues of the jailer's skin melted away and became red and glowing, as the Jailer didn't like being ignored. The Jailer let out a heinous shriek that echoed for miles in the empty cell block. A few steps away, the Doctor turned back. "So, now you're red, eh? That means rage, I reckon?" he asked it. The beast stared him down and let out another horrendous wail. "You know something else I've learned from travelling everywhere and wanted dead by more than a few enemies? I've learned how to run!"

Without missing a beat, the Doctor took off at a sprint down the corridor. He darted in between cells with the Jailer, who was now glowing red with anger, hot on his heels. As quick as the Doctor was, he soon found himself overtaken and wrapped in a blanket of cascading colors of red, blue and green. His mind was under psychic attack.

Feelings of loss and despair overcame him, with shades of anger and hatred thrown in. Images of the Daleks, his most hated enemy flashed in his mind. He wanted so terribly to tear off the eyestalks from their casings and then with his bare hands, squish the small Skaro alien inside. He wanted to murder each one; all seven trillion of them. He'd destroy them all one by one…

"No, you can't…" he protested. The Time Lord fought back, his psychic powers focused on driving the influence from his mind. Forcing himself past anger and hatred, he thought about the best moments of his life. He remembered back to his granddaughter Susan and their adventures with her two schoolteachers. Then he thought about meeting Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and working with UNIT. Then meeting Sarah Jane Smith. And Jo Grant. Leela, Romana, Teagan and Peri, Melanie and Ace. And Grace Holloway.

Happiness washed over the Time Lord as he thought of his companions. The hatred began to slowly drip away from him, fought off by the power of positive emotion. "My friends were always the best part of me," he spoke, "And I've got one more friend to save!"

Thrusting his hands downward, and in an oddly concussive act, the red hue was cast off, dissipating as it smashed into a nearby cell. The Doctor panted heavily as he watched the Jailer disperse into nothingness. "I gave you the chance to leave. I told you that you were nothing. You should have listened to me. I'm sorry," he told the now absent Jailer. Despite its intention to harm him, in all his years, the Time Lord had seen so much killing and sadness that even harm to those who'd harm him wasn't welcome.

He stood upright, cleared his throat and then started down the corridor, continuing on in his search for the missing Tenth Doctor.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The overland route across the Titanic plane was long and arduous, yet the Eleventh Doctor carried on. For his absent Serenity, both figuratively and literally, he had to carry on. The huge rips in the ground had ceased and before him was a large black plain of grass. Beyond it, he could see nothing. The plane's plain was completely empty. Even the strange stands of orange trees had stopped.

He stopped, taking a moment to scan the area with his Sonic Screwdriver. Maybe in the hubbub with the Tenth Doctor going missing, he and his predecessor had missed something. The bearing he got now was the same one he'd gotten earlier; into the empty void. "Blimey, this is a long walk. It's too bad I don't have anyone to talk to," he remarked as he started off again.

The world around him flashed in a brilliant shot of blue light. It was so bright, that the unprepared Time Lord had to blink to allow his eyes to adjust. When he opened them, a most unexpected, but welcome, sight greeted him.

"Doctor?" a woman's clearly Scottish voice confusedly spoke.

The Doctor blinked a few more times, not believing what he'd seen. In front of him, as plain as day, was his friend and former travelling companion Amy Pond. He looked her over from head to toe; from the top of her ginger head down her fair face with hazel green eyes, to her odd heavy sweater paired with short shorts showing off her milky white legs. "Amy? Amy what are you doing here?" he asked as he reached out and tied her up in an embrace.

Shocked but appreciative, Amy hugged him back, always happy to see her raggedy Doctor. "I don't know," she told him. "Rory and I were at home, out in the back yard with a bottle of Chablis and then there was a flash. Next thing I know, here I am. I should have known you'd have something to do with it." She took a step back and evaluated her old friend. He looked exactly the same as he did the last time she'd seen him; on Christmas.

The Doctor was immensely happy to see Amy. Like Rose and the others in his past, Amy on more than one occasion acted as his compass, keeping him from being reckless. "I don't know why you've been brought here," he told her. "This place is like another plane of existence, one once occupied by the Titans that were worshipped back in the ancient world."

"So why are you here?" she asked him. He started off again toward the emptiness. Amy, of course, followed.

"The TARDIS hijacked me and sent me to the Cotswolds," he told her. "There, I met a girl, about ten-years-old, deeply bothered for some reason unknown to her. A little while later, we worked out she's actually a Titan, worshipped by the Greeks as the Goddess of the Moon. Her lover, a human who was so jealous with rage and anger, rose up and slaughtered the Titans. And now here we are."

"Bothered little girl? Sounds familiar. And we? Who are we?" Amy asked.

He stopped for a moment and turned to her. "I didn't mean 'we' as 'you and I'; Serenity reached out across time and space to the three versions of me that weren't contained within the Time Lock. Right now, there's Three Doctor's helping her. Me and the two previous versions of myself."

Amy's mouth puckered as if saying a long 'ohhh.' "So you didn't get literally magical all of a sudden? You can't summon me across dimensions, or whatever?" He shook his head in disagreement. "But hang on. Isn't that, like, incredibly bad for the timeline? Having Three Doctor's running around together?" She looked around, noting no one else besides them. "And where are they, anyway?"

The Doctor started again across the plain. "Well, somehow, the Tenth Doctor disappeared and the Ninth Doctor and I forgot about him. But it was like someone screamed out 'decimals,' and then we remembered. The Ninth Doctor decided to go off and look for him while I carried on trying to find Endymion."

"Decimals?" Amy asked.

"Yes decimals… bases of ten; the foundation of counting for humanoid species all over the galaxy, well, at least for the ones with ten fingers. The voice made us remember ten. Without ten, nothing makes sense. And without the Tenth Doctor, I wouldn't be the man I am now," Eleven explained.

"I see," Amy agreed. "So are we going to some kind of castle or citadel or something? I reckon this is all very medieval." The Companion looked around at the purple sky with errant pterodactyls and the black grass underfoot. "Not to mention it's all super weird; you never showed me anything like this before."

"That's because, Amelia Pond, we're on a whole new plane of existence. Even I've never been any place like this, well, not exactly like this anyway," he informed. Staggered at the lack of progress, the Doctor stopped. "Why are we not there yet?" he asked as he checked his Sonic Screwdriver again. "It seems like I've been walking for hours and I'm no closer to wherever I'm going than when I started."

He looked off to the distance, then back to his newly arrived companion. "Amy, walk that way with really big steps," he instructed, pointing off toward the black.

"Okay?" she complied, unsure why. She did as instructed and began to venture into the black, making long strides.

The Doctor watched her intently as she carried on. As if the ground itself was a giant treadmill, each step she took forward placed her back one from where she started. "Well, that's interesting," the Doctor spoke, noting the curiosity of her locomotion. "Now stop, Amy."

She did as told and turned back. "Well?" she asked. She looked at the ground, seeing that for all the steps she'd taken, she didn't create any distance between her and the Time Lord. "Well that can't be right. I took huge steps and I've gone literally, like, two meters."

At a completely normal gait, the Doctor joined her two meters closer to the black than he was before. "I think you were right, Amy," he told her. "I think this is some sort of moat; a psychic defense for Endymion's citadel. An endless psychic moat if you like. Each step forward offers no real forward movement. Probably worked wonders for keeping Titanic Soldiers from assaulting Endymion."

"Well, how do we get past it?" Amy asked.

"Normally, if it was a real moat, like with water, I'd say either get a boat or jump on the alligator's backs…"

"Alligators?" Amy asked.

"Well, right, sometimes they're crocodiles, I suppose," the Doctor corrected. "But a psychic moat… crikey. How would one get across that? And why are you here?" he asked, realizing just now that she didn't quite belong.

"Now you take an interest?" she asked him. "Flash of blue, then here I am with purple skies and no idea what's going on."

The Doctor thought back to the moon palace. It was all starting to fall into place. "A flash of blue. Serenity's power emanated a blue aura. I mention I'd like someone to talk to and bang, here you are. I told her about you; about all of you. You and Rory, Donna, Rose and Martha. And she did it. She brought you to me. When I needed you the most… Oh Serenity, you're still here aren't you?" he asked the sky.

"Are you being strange?" she asked. Amy watched as the Doctor acted quite peculiar, even for him. "Well, if she did do this, why I guess?"

"Because, that's how amazing Serenity is," the Doctor spoke, turning back from the sky to his companion. "She's a Titan, worshipped on Earth as a Moon Goddess. She's so immensely powerful and understanding and caring that she brought you here to help me. I told her that my friends were always the best parts of me. And now here you are." Amy smiled at the compliment. "And Serenity would do anything she could to help us, I reckon. If I were to bet, I'd say you were here because I needed your help to find her boyfriend. So how about it Amelia Pond? One more adventure with your raggedy Doctor?"

Amy nodded silently, still smiling. "I followed you didn't I? And son-in-law might be a bit more relevant…"

"How is River? And the Roman; how's Rory doing?" the Time Lord asked, always curious what his family had been up to.

"They're both great," she told him, recalling the family. "Rory's taken a second job at Natural History museum as a tour guide; he does the Roman occupation section. Kinda fitting since he had the armor already. He's still doing the male nurse act too. And River's still in prison but breaks out and comes to see us on occasion. So how've you been? Still travelling like always?"

"Well, going on nine hundred years and I'm not tired of it yet," he told her, "But we should get cracking. I've got a lot more travelling to do, and two past selves to get to the past so they can go on and become me." He slowly turned away from Amy and faced the blackness.

"Okay, so, psychic moat. How do we get past that?" she asked him, as she was used to following his lead on spacy-wacy matters. "I reckon you can't sonic it, right? Do we think positive thoughts? Maybe sing 'Auld Lang Syne' or something?"

"You are so Scottish," the Doctor joked, still staring at the black void. "I honestly don't know how to get around it. I've never encountered someone as strong as this Endymion fellow, and that's saying something. He can alter your perceptions of reality and is protected, I imagine, on all sides in a citadel which is defended by a psychic moat. As brilliant as we are, Amy Pond, even three Doctors might find this a bit difficult."

"Oh, you're pretty brilliant," Amy assured him, "And three of you has got to be amazing. Serenity chose you for some reason; I'm guessing she knew you better than you know yourself. That's why you're here. That's why I always waited for you. You know what to do; you just need to think about it."

The Doctor took Amy's pep-talk to heart. Losing Serenity and his past self had depleted him. Her words were a much needed to boost the normally stratospheric morale of the Time Lord. "Amelia Pond," he spoke, looking at her appreciatively. "Now I know that Serenity is still with me. Because only she could bring you here, right when I need you the most…" He turned back to the unmoving wall of blackness. "Okay! Psychic moat! How do we deal with that? Tell me Amy, have you ever read _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_?" he queried.

Amy was confused. "Well, I watched the movie. Why? What are you thinking?"

"I'm not thinking of anything," he told her as he cleared his mind of all thought. His destination left him and his sorrow for losing Serenity faded away. Blissfully ignorant of everything, the Doctor took a step forward.

Amy watched as this step carried him into the black. The unsettling aura began to encompass him as he moved forward. "Doctor?"

"Don't think about anything, Amy. Just empty your mind and walk. Think of absolutely nothing, not even the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man," he instructed, keeping his feet moving and not focusing on anything.

Amy cleared her mind of all thoughts; going home to Rory, travelling in the TARDIS and seeing her daughter River. They all faded into nothingness. Completely ignorant, Amy took a step forward. Her footsteps changed tune from footfalls on grass to what sounded like footfalls on stone. But she couldn't think about it. Eyes ahead and unblinking, she carried on. The ground definitely firmed up beneath her, but not a neuron could be fired dwelling on it.

The skies of black went past as Amy kept on walking, a few steps behind the Doctor. Not thinking was hard. Thinking about not thinking was hard. The only solution Amy found was dwelling on absolute emptiness, as if life had no meaning at all. Soon enough though, the blackness faded and she could see normal purple sky again. The Doctor had stopped ahead of her.

"Welcome out," the Doctor greeted. Amy stopped and looked around. The weird grass was black again and the strange orange trees had returned, along with a quite daunting structure. "That was quite something. The more you focus on what you want, the more it denies you. I was too focused on Serenity. Put it out of your mind and here we are… now how do you reckon we get into the citadel?" he asked, looking at a huge fortress.

Amy looked at the large imposing stone walls and iron accents; it was all very authoritative and fit for a god. "No idea," she told him. Her feet began moving again, carrying her forward.

"Amy, stop," the Doctor spoke. He reached for her, tugging on her shoulder to stop her. "I don't want to rush into this. There could be booby traps or something," he spoke as he paced around, looking uneasily at the castle.

Amy shook free of his grasp and turned back. "Okay fine, but we'll be careful. We need to get inside that castle and that's that. No sense in stopping." She started again for the large wrought-iron gate at the front of the citadel, which easily stood 50 feet high. The Doctor followed tepidly.

The duo arrived at the gate and found no booby traps or devices of Endymion's devilishness. They only found rusted gates, lots of red colored stone walls and an imposing keep buried inside the high walls. Amy stopped and turned back to the Doctor, resting for a moment up against the red wall.

Behind her, the wall deformed, turning black and swirling with evil energy. A disembodied hand reached out and took her by the shoulder. "Doctor, help!" she called out as it began to tug wildly on her sweater.

Seeing his companion in danger, the Doctor leapt into action. He took Amy's hand and pulled on her with all his might. Each inch, every sacred space between the evil swirl and his companion was a struggle. Then, another hand reached through the black and joined the struggle, pulling on the ginger companion even more.

"You can't keep her!" Amy heard the Doctor yell, yet as she looked at him, his lips didn't move. The battle back and forth continued as Amy thought about something the Doctor had told her earlier. _'Altered reality,'_ she remembered him saying.

Slightly, the grasp the Doctor had on her began to lessen and she began to slip away into the black void. A feeling of assuredness overcame her as the unknown force tugged at her. "It's a good thing I trust you," she told the Time Lord as she disappeared into the void.

Next to a ruined castle, a swirling black portal shot out Amy Pond onto black grass under a normal purple sky. The Doctor stood over her, panting and out of breath. He gazed backward, seeing the mirror image of himself that he'd been fighting against. "Are you all right, Amy?" he asked as he looked down at his companion.

Amy was grateful that her hunch was right. She looked upward at the Doctor from the comfort of hard ground. "I'm glad to see you," she told him. "But are you, you?" she asked as he helped her up. She peered into every feature on his face making sure he was really the Doctor.

He too began to feel his body, checking his heart beat in his chest, and running his hands all over his face. "Well, I think I'm me. What do you think?" he asked, staring back at her. "Fish fingers and custard," he told her, attempting to put her fears to rest.

Amy smiled. "You're you, all right," she told him, tying arms around him in a huge hug.

"Wow, two hugs without permission; don't tell Rory," he joked. He pulled away and looked at her, happy she was back. "That was quite nasty; a two layer psychic moat. Lucky I turned back to see if you were right behind me."

"And it was a good thing you told me about that whole altering reality thing," she agreed. "Your doppelganger's lips didn't move when you called out for me; had to be a fake."

"Not the first time there'd been a ganger of me," he told her, recalling an instance with a version of himself from a being called 'the Flesh.' He turned away from her and to the crumbled castle walls and burning towers. "I wonder what did all this?" he asked as he stepped through the broken iron gate and into the realm of Endymion.

"It's all in ruin," Amy spoke, following him in. She looked over the burning towers and flaming barracks. The entire place looked like an ancient castle that'd been laid siege to for thousands of years. For all Amy knew, maybe it was. "So this was a stronghold for the Titans, yeah? And they couldn't defend against a single man?"

The Doctor walked among the rubble and the fires that burned for eternity. "Or vice versa. He could have overpowered them and taken refuge here. His rage was immense; hugely powerful. So powerful, he was able to raze an entire fortress all on his own or defend it. That's actually quite impressive."

"Not the word I'd pick," Amy interrupted.

"And scary," the Doctor admitted.

"More like it," she agreed.

The Doctor stopped. "But hatred that was born of love? That can't be right; or all that strong. His grip has to fade. And I think it has…" his voice trailed off as he came to a realization. "The Tenth Doctor disappearing, the psychic moat; those both could be automated defenses. I think this castle, in its ruined state, is more how Endymion is right now," the Doctor theorized. "If he was still powerful, this place should be immaculate. I think he's been slowly torn down and eaten away by his own hatred. The very thing that made him powerful is killing him. That's what Serenity wanted…"

Amy inched closer to him. "Care to elaborate for those of us that missed the first half of the story?" she asked.

The Doctor recalled little Serenity's words. "She wanted us to end her misery. I thought she wanted us to kill him; erasing his presence from history and undoing what he'd done… but that wasn't it. She wants us to end his suffering. I hope…"

"You hope?" Amy asked him, not quite liking the doubting tone of his voice.

The Time Lord looked up at her slowly from a moment of silent reflection. "Yes, I hope. If not, that means that she simply brought us here to kill him…"

"Which you don't do," Amy added.

"Right." He searched his heart, mining deep for every good feeling about little Serenity that he knew. His thoughts drifted to eating chips in the pub and pressing his Stetson onto her head. Further back in his memory he recalled the teenage version of her playing a video game with his old self, and an older Serenity overcome with sadness during his Ninth incarnation. "No way. No way would she bring us here just to kill him. It's not her and it's not me," the Doctor told his companion. "She's one of the most pure and perfect people I've ever met, Amy. No way she'd call us all the way here to simply kill him… there's something else going on here."

Amy smirked and took his hand. "Probably; there usually is something clandestine going on. But you'll figure it out. You're the Doctor; that's why Serenity brought you here… all three of you."

The Doctor grinned, comforted by his friend's touch. "Oh Amelia… you're so right. But now I think we should find either Endymion and confront him or my past selves and see if Nine has recovered Ten yet."

"Where were they at?" Amy asked him.

"I imagine a prison or jail; we think the Tenth Doctor was taken," the Doctor spoke as he looked at the flaming above ground buildings. He whipped out his Sonic Screwdriver and aimed at the burning buildings. No signals. Again he buzzed the air; nothing. Once more, he aimed at the dirt beneath their feet. The green end glowed as he took a reading of the soil. "They're below us," the Time Lord said, registering two sonic signals beneath him and his companion. "We need to find a way underground…"

Amy, ever curious, had moved off and started looking for some sort of stairwell leading downward. "Doctor! Look here!" she called out. She had found a narrow staircase; hidden away and untouched by the fighting above, the non-flaming and sturdy gatehouse offered the best chance for descending into the depths of the fortress.

"Oh, well done Amy," the Doctor congratulated as he joined her at the gatehouse. A spry step later and he was headed down the stairs.

"It never changes does it?" Amy spoke happily, following the Doctor off on another adventure like Alice down the rabbit hole.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

After searching for what seemed like hours, the Ninth Doctor was no closer to finding his successor than when he'd left his jail cell. The entire place housed nothing but bones, empty cells and sadness. No other psychic Jailers had been found. He was truly alone in the depths of the citadel prison. _'Now what?'_ he asked himself.

Again he felt drawn to the Sonic Screwdriver. "Well, you can melt bars of steel. Can you find other sonic signals as well?" he asked the tool. Again the blue whirr of the Sonic echoed into the chasm of lonely cells. The tool showed no results. Finally, in a last ditch effort, the Doctor decided to take a more antiquated approach. "Hello!" he shouted down into the rows of dark cages.

"Hey!" a voice responded.

The aural response was quite unexpected. "Who's there?" he followed with.

Five feet away, locked in a cell, the Tenth Doctor waited rescue. He watched his past self fumbling with the Sonic and then got into what looked like a shadow fight against something that wasn't even real. It was baffling. Again his predecessor fumbled with the Sonic before the Doctor decided to speak out. "Mary, Queen of Scots… who'd you think?" he shouted.

The voice of the Tenth Doctor cut through the darkness like an air horn through a dense fog. The darkness of the underground prison lessened and lessened until the place only seemed like a few cells and a stairwell leading upward. "I've found you!" the Ninth Doctor exclaimed, excited and triumphant.

"I've been six feet away from you the entire time you've been down here," Ten revealed. "That tree stand cast a beam over you on the outside, right? You were brought down here just like I was." Nine listened intently, soaking up the details. "Whatever is outside; the power that protects this place, it alters…"

"Perceptions of reality," the Ninth Doctor finished. "Like a perception filter for the entire place." It had all seemed so real. Escaping the cell, running down the cell blocks, fighting the Jailer… they were all fictitious. "So the whole time I was down here… remembering the sadness of the Time War…"

"And remembering all our friends," the Tenth Doctor added, not wanting his predecessor to fall into a gloomy mood. "I watched and listened to everything you said. You're so right. Our friends are our best parts. And that's why we're here; to help our friend Serenity."

"Quite right!" a new voice agreed. Both Ten and Nine looked to the left, at the stairwell going upward. From high above descended the Eleventh Doctor, along with a red haired girl that was unknown to the Ninth and only partially known to the Tenth Doctor. "Doctors, Amy Pond. Amy, Doctors…" the Eleventh spoke, introducing his companion to his past selves.

Amy looked at the cute skinny man standing there and the handsomer of the two in the leather jacket next to him. "Well, you certainly were better looking," she spoke, jabbing Eleven in the ribs with an elbow. The Ninth Doctor in particular had caught her eye, and had she not been married, might have acted like quite the adolescent. But it was neither the time nor place.

Eleven paid no attention to his ginger companion. "So, a jailbreak is in order, eh?" He took the green colored Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket and aimed the emitter at… nothing. "What? No door or lock? What kind of jail is this?"

The Tenth Doctor pointed skyward. Above his head was a beam emitter set into the stone ceiling. "I reckon its some kind of teleporter pad. But magic or something," Ten spoke. "I drained my Sonic trying to reverse the signal." He held up his flat Sonic Screwdriver.

Amy looked at the three of them, wondering why they were all so daft. She looked at her Doctor, then at the other two, wondering if maybe they'd all bumped their head. "You're kidding right?" she asked them. She shook her head dismissively and took a step toward the skinny suited Doctor.

Much to the amazement of the Doctors, she passed right through the bars. "Amy, how'd you do that?" Eleven asked.

Their airheadedness was baffling. "There are no bars here. It's a big empty chasm. Just us and that stairwell," she told them.

All three of them had been exceedingly daft. The reality filter was working at full capacity and they'd all fallen victim to it. "So, there was no cell, no jailer… nothing down here. How?" Nine asked.

"Because you expected there to be that down here," Amy told them. She turned to Eleven. "What was the first thing you said to me? You said that this entire place can alter your perception of reality. What you expect happens and what you want to find you do." It was slowly dawning on the Time Lords. "When we crossed the psychic moat, we emptied our heads; we didn't think of anything or anyone.

"And I planted the idea of the citadel in your head," Eleven admitted.

"So when we got here, instant citadel. I stopped thinking of what I wanted to happen," Amy added. She emptied all preconceived notions and ideas from her mind, thinking of only herself and the three Doctors, free in a basement. "Let's go upstairs," she suggested.

Everyone else emptied their heads. The Eleventh Doctor forgot about what he'd seen in regards to a flaming citadel. Ten shrugged off the fact that he, in this instance, was just as useless as his two other selves, and Nine forgot the quite embarrassing fact that he'd been six feet from himself the entire time and acted like a complete lunatic.

The door to the outside world swung open and Amy stepped out, followed by the Doctors. Once outside, without their preconceived notions, the world looked mightily different. The sky was normal and blue in color. The trees were normal with brown bark and green leaves. The grass was green and stood upright like it did on Earth. Before them, an ancient man sat in an empty field.

They circled the old man who was incapacitated in a mechanized wheelchair with working life support systems. Skin hung from his bones and had been rendered pasty white and clammy with age. His old eyes worked but were hidden behind drooping eyelids. A long white beard and full head of hair were long and unkempt and he smelled as old people do. He was clearly asleep. "Is this him? Is this the guy you were looking for?" Amy asked.

The Doctors examined him. "I guess so," Eleven said as he evaluated the old codger. "Blimey, he doesn't appear to be that much of a threat…"

The Tenth Doctor stopped. "Wait, did you think that before we got up here? If you did, this could not be him."

The other two Doctors realized that he was right. "How do we tell?" Nine asked.

Amy didn't miss a step. She moved closer to the guy and knelt down to put her face inches from his. "Hey, are you that human guy who slew the Titans?" she asked. A gentle palm slapped the man on his face.

The Doctors Nine and Ten couldn't believe the gall of the girl. "Well, she is Scottish," Eleven added, trying to explain her behavior.

The old man opened his drooping sad eyes. He gazed upon Amy first, not having seen anyone in ages. Her pale skin and fire red hair was welcoming. He then looked around at the three Doctors, first to Nine, then Ten and finally Eleven. "You've come to slay me… to end Selene's suffering."

The Eleventh Doctor joined Amy at the old man's level. "Are you Endymion?" he asked. The old man nodded slightly. The Doctors could only feel pity for the poor old man in the chair. He was defenseless, and certainly wasn't the rage filled, master of evil that they were expecting. A pain grew in his heart. He couldn't end this man. Dooming the Night Hare was one thing; near as he could see, killing Endymion wouldn't bring Serenity back. And like Ten reminded, he knew that Serenity wanted and needed him to stay true to himself. And it wasn't in his character to kill a defenseless old man. "You poor thing," he spoke.

Ten too wrestled with it. The old codger reminded him of Davros, creator of the Daleks whom the Doctor fought tooth and nail against. In their last battle for Earth, 26 other planets, and the whole universe, the Time Lord and his friends fought against the Dalek creator at his worst. Even triumphant as the Crucible burned around him, the Doctor couldn't leave Davros to die. But the Time Lord was unable to save his enemy on the burning Dalek ship, and that had haunted him since saying goodbye to all his friends. He took out the mechanism that Rena had slipped into his pocket and looked at it. The old man's fate was in his hands. "I can't do it," he grimly said.

Nine wasn't struggling with it as much as the other two. He'd seen war. In his mind, he'd just finished the most taxing and exhaustive war ever fought. His actions led to the death of his people and the genocide of the Daleks. It's true that the best parts of him were his friends and how they influenced him, but even those things were right now helping with the dilemma before him. This wasn't murder. It was a merciful death. He reached out and took the bronze gear mechanism from the Tenth Doctor. "I'll do it," he said, volunteering.

Amy and Eleven stood and took a step backward. The Ninth Doctor took a few silent steps toward the aged man, crippled in his chair. Ten and Eleven knew that if any of the three was capable of ending Endymion, Nine would have been it. Everyone watched in silent reverence as the Ninth Doctor neared the old man's chair. He could do what none of the others could.

Nine arrived behind Endymion's chair and looked down at the primitive cogs and bellows pumping oxygen and blood for him. He looked up to his newer selves. "This is why it takes three of us. You to believe in Serenity to get us here," he remarked to Eleven, "You to accept your fate and what you'll become," he added, clearly intended for Ten, "And me to end him…" He knelt down and pressed the small bronze gear piece into the chair.

The Ninth Doctor took a quiet step backward. Slowly, the gear he inserted in the chair slowed the other gears and bellows. They ground to a slow, gradual halt. "Thank you…" Endymion spoke from old, dying lips. Nine joined his other selves and Amy as the old man slowly passed away. Serenity's enraged lover's head slowly drooped downward as life fled his ancient body. Endymion had died.


	14. Chapter 14

Fair Skin and Fire Red Hair – The Rise of Amy Pond Chapter 14

The Three Doctors all bowed their heads, paying respect to the old man who'd just passed. He wasn't a bloodthirsty tyrant or embodiment of evil as they'd expected. Their job was done, and if the current theory held true, Endymion's passing would alleviate any pain felt by Selene. None of them, none of them had failed her.

Amy however watched him silently and incredulously. She was the only one to notice that around the limp and lifeless body, a red aura formed. The blue sky above slowly turned blood red and began swirling towards the old corpse. "Uh, Doctor," she spoke, trying to get any of the Time Lords attention. They stood unmoving, their heads down looking at the grass. "Doctor!" she tried again, this time shaking Eleven by his coat. Still, there was no movement from any of the three Doctors. They'd been frozen. "What's happened to you?" she asked her best friend. She turned back to the only goings on the entire world, apparently.

"Tsk, tsk, Amelia Pond," a booming and evil voice spoke from all corners of the world. "They've bowed in reverence; they're now mine. And I've been waiting for you for some years. Thousands of them in fact. You've made a habit of making people wait for you… Thousands of years waiting for the ginger girl who could restore youth to my beloved Selene…"

Amy looked around, her head jetting about as she tried to get a fix on the voice. "Who are you? What are you talking about?" she asked, still not knowing who she was speaking to.

"There is no greater folly of being a king without a kingdom," the voice told her, "Or a queen. I laid waste to this entire world to find some way to restore my beloved Selene. Little did I know her salvation would come in the form of a Scottish girl from Leadworth."

"I don't understand!" Amy shouted. "All this? This was all to get me here?"

"Of course it was," the voice added. "Years ago, Selene would always talk about how magnificent the Doctor was; how he'd defeated Sutekh on his own, stopped Daleks and Cybermen, prevented countless species from taking over the Earth. Selene was enamored with him. No one had made as big a splash all over the cosmos as your Doctor." The voice moved closer to Amy, taking a place next to the departed Endymion. "Naturally, in the years I was stuck in that chair, I watched. I used my psychic power to observe. He's taken many friends. Always lots of young beautiful women with him; the shop girl so in love but lost in another universe, the doctor who walked the Earth for him, and the sassy temp who had to forget everything. But they all pale in comparison to you."

Amy had no idea what the voice was going on about. "How do you mean?" she asked.

The swirling red formed a human shape next to the body of deceased Endymion. "I can't believe I looked so bad; I'm so old and decayed. The Titans last prison for me…" the voice added, its unformed head looking at the frail old man. It turned to face the Doctor's companion. "But you, Amelia Pond… you can change all that. You conceived a child in the Time Vortex. Your womb is, for lack of a better word, magical. From it will be born a new Selene. One who can rule this kingdom with me at her side, as it always should have been."

"What? You're kidding," Amy said. "First off, you're not setting up camp in my uterus. Second, even if your plan worked, why would she want to rule a ruined place like this?" The place around was non-existent, as if a once great castle had stood there but was wiped from the face of the world, save for the gatehouse they'd emerged from moments ago.

The red form in front of her slowly formed a more solid shape; a human male. "Oh Amelia… I've accumulated a lot of power. And I've been trapped in that shell for thousands of years, so I know how to use it." From the red soup formed a face; one shaved clean and handsome. His black eyes pierced Amy's soul as his other features filled in. His body filled out, shaped in muscular lines covered in armor of a Greco period. "That's much better," he spoke as he examined his youthful body. "Now, for the finale…" The Greco soldier before her thrust his arms upward, calling forth the power of all the Titans he had slaughtered.

The earth quaked beneath her feet and slowly, buildings of stone and wood began jetting upward from the ground. In no time at all, the land had filled with massive walls and keeps, stone towers and barracks. Amy found herself surrounded, in the middle of a courtyard and standing toe to toe with whom she could only deduce was a young Endymion. "So, you're Endymion?" she asked, just for clarification. He nodded. "Right. So, all this to get me here to impregnate me?"

"Nothing as crude as a simple fluid transfer," Endymion spoke. "What we have in store for you is much less… yucky. Besides, you're married, and that'd be just rude. Now hold still." Endymion started for her.

Amy, instinctively, stepped back. "Now stop it. I'm not a walking in-vitro clinic for you," she warned.

Endymion grew tired of her resistance, but anticipated it anyway. He turned away and faced an especially dark tower in the courtyard. "Cerberus, here boy!" he called out. He waited patiently.

The ground shook in an even cadence. From the dark tower shot a horrible beast; a giant dog with three heads and three equally gross looking and drooling muzzles. It stopped swiftly at his masters' side, waiting orders like a good dog. "Cerberus, if she moves another inch, you can eat the Time Lords… wow, one for each mouth… convenient."

Amy overhead the order and stopped instantly, not wanting to surrender her best friend to the vengeful Endymion. "Okay, okay," she succumbed, "I'll stop." Endymion smiled sinisterly. "But I have a condition. I want to fight you."

The rage filled human laughed. "You? Fight me?" he asked quizzically. He wrested the short bronze sword in his hand from its sheath and tightened the shield on his forearm. "This should be a cakewalk… fine. Your body should still work for a few minutes after death, and then Selene can be whole again and she can rule with me on her right hand."

Amy's gambit had worked. "Good. Bring me the TARDIS. I at least want a sword to make it a bit of a fair fight," she told him. He closed his eyes and focused his remaining energy, calling forth a portal to bring the old Police Box into the arena of combat. Amy smiled quietly, recalling the past. "You know, over the past two years I've been trapped in the TARDIS, locked away in the Pandorica and been used as a pawn for an Alliance to trap the Doctor. The whole time I needed either the Doctor or Rory or River to come and save me. I waited and waited for someone to be a hero for me. Now I get to be the hero. It's a long time coming…" A plan formed in her mind, as she thought back over her years on the TARDIS.

The old brilliant Blue Box appeared in a flash of red light, next to the three frozen Time Lords. "Now, don't get too ahead of yourself," Endymion boastfully spoke, "I'm quite the swordsman."

Amy looked at the old Box, happy to see it. "We'll see. Now wait here while I get the Doctor's sword he fought against the Sycorax with." She turned and went to the box. It opened for her, without a key even and Amy disappeared inside.

Endymion waited. And waited. He grew impatient waiting for her. He and Cerberus sat outside, waiting for her to emerge. To pass time, he used a small amount of energy and formed a bronze sword and shield for himself.

Suddenly, the double doors of the Police Box shot open and from it emerged a beast covered in grey fur and a moustache. A giant cat's head poked out, followed by the entire cat's body. Behind the cat was Amy, who was clad in makeshift armor and wielded a sword with a secondary weapon tied to her back. "Meet Geoff," she said to a shocked Endymion. "He eats rhinoceroses and he loves me and the Doctor. He's also not too fond of dogs." Geoff hissed at the ugly Cerberus. "Oh, one more thing…" she said, remembering something forgotten as she disappeared into the TARDIS once more.

The air of the Titanic plane filled with loud choral voices, followed by soft string music that grew in intensity. Amy reemerged. "Duel of the Fates, from _Star Wars_…" she informed, "Perfect swordfight song." She and Geoff stared down their opponents for a moment. "Okay, go Geoff."

On her command, Amy and Geoff sprung into action. Geoff leapt at Cerberus, knocking the ugly dog down. Geoff however rolled away, not wanting to get bit by the multiple heads of the hellhound. The cat recoiled and hissed, his back arched high waiting for the retaliation.

Likewise Amy had delivered a fast opening blow to Endymion, who'd underestimated her. He reeled from her attack and barely had enough time to get his shield raised to deflect the blow. She followed with a jab and a few more slashes. "You know, I fought a whole boatload of pirates like this once," she informed.

Endymion smiled and regained his composure. "You surprise me, Amelia. I'd heard the Doctor often turned his friends into weapons, but I'd never imagined he could turn a flower like you into a warrior." He dodged a blow and swung his sword back, aiming for Amy's appendages. "You may have fought simple pirates… but I've slain Titans! My blade is lethal! Does a simple kiss-o-gram like you think that you can outfight me?" he taunted.

She evaded and took a wild swing at him. The blow impacted his shield, but the heavy iron sword she was using easily smashed and deformed the bronze at his disposal. His ploy to plant self-doubt in Amy wasn't going to work; she'd seen lots of things travelling with the Doctor and she knew her abilities. "Actually my husband taught me the blade. He's a Roman, you see. Best swordsmen ever. Score one for the Iron Age. Didja know the Scottish ushered in the Iron Age?" she asked, meeting his taunt with confidence. She could show no weakness.

Across the field, Cerberus tried as well as he could to keep up with the giant mustached British Shorthair, but Geoff was far too fast for the three headed dog. Geoff's strikes were quick and lethal, and each one depleted the fight in the mythical hellhound. Seeing his opponent losing steam, Geoff went for a crushing blow and leapt at Cerberus. He landed on the dog's back. The cat sunk his claws into the hide of the hound and went for a lethal bite to the neck.

Amy and Endymion continued sparring. Their swords smashed together in a volley of slashes and parries. Each blow was met by an equally powerful and reactive blow; no one gained an upper hand.

Endymion, slayer of Titans, was growing quite tired of being outclassed with the blade by a ginger Scot from England. He called forth his remaining power and summoned the strength of the Titans into his body. His speed and agility heightened, easily to the point of outdoing Amy. With a mighty leap he jumped over her head and got behind her.

Amy was barely able to turn and deflect the incoming blow. Doing so caught her horribly off balance. She stumbled for her footing and nearly fell. Fear raced in her mind and she feared she might be done for.

Endymion seized the moment and raised his blade up.

A flash of grey shot at him. Geoff leapt off Cerberus and moved to intercept Endymion, who was inches away from ending Amy. He head butted the Titan Slayer across the courtyard. The cat turned his head to check his friend, and in that instance, the hellhound struck. Cerberus delivered a massive blow to the cat, knocking Geoff off his footing and forcing him to slide across the grass.

"Geoff!" Amy cried. She got her footing and charged the hellhound, her blade ready to end the beast.

Endymion, still empowered by the Titans he'd slain, used the speed of Nike to interdict the Scot. With an outstretched hand, he turned her away from her strike at Cerberus and made her face him. He clutched her wrist and forced her to drop the blade. One lengthened fingernail scratched her perfect skin, just below the eye. "There. I said it wasn't as gross as fluid transfer." Amy gasped as blood trickled down from her cheek. Endymion had won their sword duel. Snidely, he turned to the dog. "Cerberus, kill the cat," he coldly instructed.

When he turned his back to issue Geoff's death sentence, Amy saw her chance. She'd been stripped of her sword, but her special secondary weapon was still tied to her back. With her free hand she grasped it, and like she'd done before, and to the Doctor no less, she swung mightily at Endymion's head with a cricket bat. The wood snapped into a thousand splinters and broke apart. Endymion fell over in a heap, unconscious.

The hellhound pressed Geoff up against a wall and bit at the cat with two of its three heads. "Hang on Geoff!" Amy called out. She retrieved her sword and Endymion's from the ground and charged the dog. The bronze blade sliced into Cerberus' gut. Her steel blade aimed at the dog's third head. She swung mightily and stuck the steel sword into the beast's muscled neck. Blood trickled down the blade and the mythical hound was caught unawares and off guard.

Weakened, Geoff seized the opportunity and freed himself from Cerberus' grasp. He swiped his claws at the neck of the first head, causing blood to spurt from severed veins. The dog moved off slowly and began limping away. Geoff arched his back and hissed, ready to deliver the knockout blow. "Geoff, wait," Amy instructed. "I think it's done."

Then Amy unexpectedly grimaced and fell to the ground in pain. Geoff watched Cerberus limp off and was confused when his friend fell to the ground. He sniffed her, trying to detect what was wrong with her. "Doctor… help me," she pleaded to the still frozen Time Lords. Again, fear gripped her.

A spark fired in the Eleventh Doctor's hearts. A terrible feeling overcame him; one of intense pain and fear. He'd felt it before; during his Ninth and Tenth incarnations. Each time it had a familiarity to it that he couldn't place. Each plea in the past caused him to undergo immeasurable pain, to the point of doubling over. The grip that Endymion had over him slowly faded as he recalled who he was. "Amelia…" he spoke, free of Endymion's grasp.

His gaze moved from the grass to find Endymion unconscious. Further out, he could see Geoff nudging and licking gently at Amy. His rage and fury grew and the grasp over him disappeared completely. He ran to his companion and knelt down at her side. It all made sense to him. "Oh Amy, I'm so sorry," he apologized. He cradled her in his arms as she struggled against the alien force streaking though her veins.

The blood trickling down her cheek mixed with a tear that streamed from her eyes. She was sad in her defeat but happy that the Doctor had been freed. "He took nasty blow with a cricket bat, but in the end he got me. And now I get to be a mum… again. To Selene I guess," she told him. Her body reacted with the seed that Endymion had placed in her.

"This whole time… the voice I was hearing, the one I thought was Serenity, it was you all along," he told her, having an epiphany. "This plane of existence runs parallel with the universe we're from. That plea, that simple cry for help you just made is what drew my past selves to find me and Serenity." As the words left his mouth, he realized that the small child from Northleach was not his friend; she was far from that. "Serenity. She used us. Used us to get to you… She needed Nine to free Endymion from that old prison and Ten to carry the device to do it. And worst off, she used me to orchestrate the whole thing. Our three TARDISes were her chariot home… and I fell for it. She couldn't just abduct you because this world was closed off to her… I fell for every word."

Amy watched, still in pain, as the Time Lord had his revelation. "Hey. It's what you do. You're the Doctor. You help people. You do what no one else in the whole universe can. You saw a young girl in distress, and she needed you. So you did what you do." She groaned and writhed more. "Oh this is painful…" she panted.

He smiled at his fallen companion. "Amy, again, right now I'm going to do what I do. Just like so many times in the past Amy, I need you to trust me. Remember the _Byzantium_? Remember running from the Weeping Angels with your eyes shut?" Amy nodded in agreement. "Just like then, I need you to trust me."

"I'll always trust you," she told him. She eked out a tiny smile from within the pain. "I trust you like no one else. Fish fingers and custard…" Tears rolled from her eyes and the pain became unbearable.

The Time Lord smiled. He pulled her into a tight embrace and spoke softly. "Let it take you," he advised. "Let the life force inside you overcome all and let it out." The Doctor laid her gently on the ground and stepped away.

Amy fought it for a moment, looking at him more frightened than she'd ever been. But as she looked over his goofy face and swoopy hair and that idiotic bowtie… she fully trusted her raggedy Doctor. She gave up. Her head fell back and eyes rolled into the back of her head. She let go of the fight against the life raging inside her. Every fiber that had struggled against the invading force laid down and let the new life ran rampant inside her. Her body twitched and convulsed as it was taken over by a new life.

The Doctor watched horrified as his friend, his friend Amelia of so many years, was used as a harbinger of a new Titan. She squirmed and writhed on the ground, her human flesh bearing a reborn Moon Goddess. The Doctor stood idly by, watching worriedly and hoping his guess was right. It was all going just as Selene had planned all along.

The spasms increased in ferocity and Amy rolled onto one side. The Time Lord fought every urge inside him to go and help his friend because he knew that the only way to help her was for her to rid Selene's life force from her body. Her jaw was forced open from the outside and she looked as if she was going to vomit.

Geoff, still worried, joined at the Doctor's side. "Oh, hello Geoff. Helped Amy did you?" he asked the cat whilst patting the giant kitty on the head. Geoff purred from under his moustache. "Yes I know it looks bad. But this is the only way she can get the new life out of her. Try not to worry, Geoff," he reservedly spoke. "You can go back to the TARDIS; I'll take care of her…" The cat meowed once more and then returned to his home inside the Blue Box. The Doctor took a deep breath and tried to follow his own advice and not worry.

With Endymion unconscious, rendered good and knocked out by Amy's cricket bat, his grip over Doctors Nine and Ten faded. Their eyes opened and they looked upward, as if coming out of a long slumber. The first thing they saw was Geoff, wiggling back into the tiny Police Box doors. Further away, they noticed Amy's convulsions on the ground. Instinctively, they moved to help her.

"Wait," Eleven told them, holding an arm out so they couldn't pass. "She's been impregnated, for lack of a better word. We just need to let her come…"

Nine and Ten looked at the Eleventh Doctor, who'd clearly been busy at work. "Impregnated? What do you mean? Who are we waiting for?" Ten asked.

"Selene…" Eleven sadly spoke. His message was simple and succinct and they both understood.

The Three Doctors watched silently, scared and wanting to help as Amy twitched on the ground. She began to go into dry heaves as the life inside her. The Doctors simply watched as a blue haze exhaled from Amy's lungs. It glowed and formed a humanoid shape of about five feet tall. It formed two legs and a clearly possessed a female form.

"So she used us," the Ninth Doctor asked. Eleven nodded silently as he waited for the new Selene to finish forming. "I don't like being lied to."

"How do you think I felt?" Eleven asked. His gaze didn't move from the woman who'd betrayed him.

The blue haze glowed brighter and brighter and eventually, a face formed. Adorned with long black hair and beautiful features, it was clearly the twenty-something Selene that the Ninth Doctor knew well. "She needed us to get here," the Tenth Doctor theorized. "It wouldn't have worked any other time. There had to be three TARDISes to activate the Mandala node. Our past selves were locked away and unavailable to her… it had to be now. That's why it took three Doctors."

The glowing around Selene's new form finalized, clad in long flowing blue robes. Amy slumped over, no longer convulsing but wholly knocked out. The Three started for Amy, none of them minding the new Moon Goddess and Titan Queen standing before them. "Doctor, I'm back," Selene spoke. She expected them to welcome her with open arms. She was quite shocked and angry when they bypassed her completely and went to check on Amy.

As the Doctors looked over their fallen friend, the hatred and anger bubbled away inside the Moon Goddess. "Hey! I'm alive! I'm back to rule this place forever! Pay attention to me!" she shouted.

Eleven checked Amy's vitals and then looked up at his former friend disgustedly. "We're not listening," he calmly told her. He looked back to Amy.

Selene couldn't believe the gall of the Mortals. "Not listening?" she asked.

"She doesn't get it," Eleven spoke. His gaze moved to the Tenth Doctor. "Tell her."

Ten looked over his shoulder. "We're not LISTENING!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He turned back to his other selves. "Good, right?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," Eleven congratulated, "We always were good at yelling."

Selene thrust her hand at their coven. The Three Doctors shot backward as a brilliant blue force pushed them away from Amy and across the courtyard. "You will listen! I am Queen of this domain and I will be respected!" she demanded.

The Doctors stumbled to their feet and faced her. Each of them carried a look of steely resolve that only the Doctor, in any form, could convey. "No," Nine told her. "We're not in your court, Your Majesty. You used and manipulated us…"

"You meddled in whole timelines and across thousands of light years to force us to bring you here and free your boy-toy from the prison your parents managed to put him in before they died," Ten added.

"And what's worst of all," Eleven took over, "You brought my best friend into this for your own selfish end. Remember what I told you on the TARDIS? My friends are the best parts of me. I would go to the ends of the Universe for Rose or Martha or Donna and especially for Amy.

"You've hurt the part of me that I care about more than anything; you hurt her. And now, you've made me angry! The last time I was this angry, I slaughtered the entire Dalek and Time Lord races. And they were both so much more vastly powerful than you are. I've ended Omega, a god held together by his own will. I've defeated Sutekh, the all-powerful Osirian. Amy and I stopped an Alliance of aliens who ended the Universe by trapping me in a perfect prison! Trust me, you don't want to be on my bad side, Selene," he warned.

She was taken aback by their defiance. "You… you called me Selene," she stammered.

"Yes I did. Serenity was that little girl that I ate chips with under an Ian Wright Arsenal shirt and Newcastle Ale sign. She was the one who lit up in delight when she saw the inside of my TARDIS. _She_ was my friend. You're not," Eleven told her. "You're a power hungry crazed demigod who had her boyfriend slaughter her own parents so that she could ascend a throne… a throne with no subjects in a decaying world. Some kingdom," he remarked.

Her anger reached a boiling point. This man, three versions of the same man, one she thought she trusted had lied. Her hero from when she was a child had betrayed her. Again she thrust a hand at them. They again fell over. "I… I… you were supposed to welcome me back! You helped begin my reign!"

"It's a reign you weren't supposed to have," Nine countered with. He made it back to his feet and stared her down. "They exiled you for a reason. Not because you loved a mortal but because you were a psychopath. So in the years you were locked away you concocted a scheme…"

Eleven stood, his anger boiling and matching hers. "So you used a mortal from Earth; bewitched him with your beauty, into slaying your parents. But it all went wrong when they locked him in that old body, unable to let you back into your realm. So you thought of someway, of someone, to get you back here."

"But you didn't start off like that did you?" Ten asked, voicing his usual concern. Where Nine and Eleven were quick to take up arms, Ten always searched for the goodness that rested inside everyone, even in tiny amounts. "You didn't start off like that. I genuinely believe that when you clung onto me in that video game, you were genuinely scared. I know that my compatriots want to believe that the tiny girl and the twenty-something weren't corrupt megalomaniacs only lusting after power."

The Tenth Doctor, like no one else could, gave her an opening. He gave her a window to speak her true feelings; that was his purpose here. A war waged inside her. "It's true I wanted the throne. And I was scared during that game, and when I was lost and couldn't remember my past," she added, making sure her emphasis was caught by the Eleventh Doctor. "I hurt you the most. For that I do apologize. But this was the only way I could come home. Wouldn't you go back to Gallifrey if you could?" she asked.

All three thought about the question, and all three knew how the others would answer. Eleven stepped forward. "As amazing as Gallifrey was with the fire red fields and silver leafed trees, the cities in glass domes… my wonderful people… Gallifrey is gone. It was twisted and warped in the last days of the War. We remember Gallifrey for what it was, not what it became. Maybe you should do the same?" he asked.

She pondered it for a moment. The evil inside her crept forward. "Hmm… no," she told them. Ascending the throne of her parents had overcome her. Once more she thrust a hand at the Doctors, this time closing it into a fist. She slowly choked the life from them.

On the ground, Amy stirred from her ordeal. Her eyes opened and saw a strange woman clothed in blue robes closing her fist like something that Darth Vader would have done. Behind her, she saw the Doctors being choked, which was exactly something that Vader would have done. "Hey!" she protested as she got up. "Stop it. Stop!" she shouted. She stumbled forward a few steps toward Selene.

"Oh you're awake," the Titan Queen spoke. "You're just in time to witness the end of the Doctor." Her hand squeezed together again, squeezing the life from the last of the Time Lords.

"You'd really do that?" Amy asked. She fought off the inherent fatigue from birthing a goddess and took a few more steps. "I saw how the Doctor looked when he mentioned you. He loved you. He loved the little girl you used to be. I know he counted you as his friend; along with me and Rose, Martha and Donna. How can you do this to him?" she asked. Selene's grasp weakened. "He went literally to the ends of the universe for you; across a whole other plane of reality for you. He would have taken you travelling like he did with me. You could have seen more than a burnt out castle with no subjects and you could have taken Endymion with." Selene thought about it more. The goodness inside, the small lady called Serenity, fought back the evil ways of her older, more ambitious self.

With a weak grasp on him, the Doctor tried to speak. "It's true; I do love Serenity. She's a fantastic person full of wonder and magic. I love the little girl I ate chips with and who went to the Moon with me. Remember who you are, who you really are!" the Eleventh Doctor pleaded.

The war waging inside Selene was elevated to new heights. Inside her, two people vied for control; the megalomaniac who used the Doctors to bring her home and the little girl from the pub who was scared and alone. When he first whisked her off to the Moon, she'd felt more alive than she ever had. But with the Doctor, she would never be alone. She'd always have him, even when she didn't think that she did. Right now, in the face of certain death, all three Doctors fought for her. And she definitely wasn't alone.

A flash of blue surrounded the middle aged Selene. Fighting with all her might, the small lady emerged once more. The queen's robe disappeared and was replaced by the primary school uniform she had on when the Doctor had first met her. She grimaced in pain, fighting with every ounce of strength in her tiny body, doing her best to force back the angry, jealous, and lustful side that had used the Doctor she so idolized.

"You can do it, Serenity!" Nine shouted, cheering her on. Endymion stirred awake, but rested on the ground, watching the Queen revert from her old self to a younger one and back again.

The cheering section continued. "You're so strong and only you could do what you did! You can beat the dreadful parts of yourself! Let go of the anger and jealousy, Serenity! Fight it!" Ten urged.

The small girl appeared once more from the older woman. "Please Serenity," Eleven pleaded. "I've lost so much in my long life. Friends, colleagues, my own people… I don't want to lose you too. You're so special. You can turn away from the horrible things you've done; you can be yourself! You can be the little girl I love. Please Serenity."

"Listen to him Serenity," Amy urged, joining in. "For both your benefits, for you and the Doctor, please listen Serenity. He loves so fiercely and is so loyal. I know. I was you once; a little girl lost and afraid, without her parents and without anyone. But I always had my raggedy Doctor. Sure it took a bit for him to come around, but I never really stopped believing in him." Their cheers were working and slowly, the child fought back the elder. "Keep fighting. That's why he's the Doctor. He makes you better; better than you were. But you have to fight it. He's so worth the monsters; the ones in space and inside yourself. And only you can beat them."

Amy's advice took hold. Part of Selene's plot in the beginning was to make herself so similar to Amelia, the Doctor wouldn't be able to resist helping her. But the plot concocted by older Selene meant she was also effectively using herself. A feel of dread and self-loathing overcame Serenity. She hated what she'd done. The old self fed on the hatred. The world flashed blue once more and old Selene reemerged.

The small lady had been defeated. Older Selene breathed heavily, but relieved. "Oh, you naughty Doctors. And you too Amelia. I no longer have much need for you now, since I'm here and all." She raised a hand at Amy, ready to deliver a death blow. Amy stepped back, fearful of facing her end.

"Wait!" Endymion protested as he slowly rose. It was clear that Selene didn't expect him to come around so quickly after being smashed in the head with a cricket bat. Selene's hand lowered as Endymion struggled toward her. "Why kill her? Or any of them?" he asked. He hobbled unevenly over to his lover, fearful yet happy that she was back.

Selene couldn't believe his gall. "You question me?" she asked.

"Yes, I do," Endymion told her. He slowly stood upright, correcting what Amy's bat had done. "I did all this for you; I killed people, I razed an entire kingdom and I ensured you could be brought back to life from the netherworld. I think I'm owed a question or two." He peered into his love with a fear and curiosity that all lovers possess at one time or another.

Selene, for as evil as she'd been in concocting her takeover plan, was still in love with the handsome Endymion. Her brow softened and her eyes drooped downward. She melted in his presence, acting like quite the girly girl despite her great power and rage. "I… I don't know. We have no need for them. Why keep them around? They will not be subjugated. What would you have me do with them?"

Endymion shook his head. He raised a finger at the Time Lords. "This whole time, you used him. And her," he pointed to Amy, "And me. I did what you said because I love you. I did it because you mean more to me than anything else Selene. So long ago, I saw no other way for us to be together than for this plan to work. I did it because I couldn't stand to live without you." He brushed her long dark hair from her face and gazed lovingly at her.

"But seeing you now… seeing this lack of compassion; that's not the beautiful girl I fell in love with. You've changed. We were both alone for so long; it corrupts people. I was no different. I was stuck in that ancient prison that your father entombed me in on his deathbed. I was stuck there for a thousand years and the only thing that kept me going was thinking of you; of the girl I fell in love with." He put his hand back at his side and stepped back. "If she's gone; if the girl I fell for is no more, I have no reason for existing. You may as well kill me too." He knelt down and bowed his head, awaiting judgment.

Selene's heart dropped. She looked at him wide eyed and open jawed. It was an ultimatum she never expected he'd deliver. "But… you killed for me."

"And it was wrong," Endymion told her as he looked up. "I only did those things because I wanted you back. More than anything I wanted you back. If there was some way we could have been together and I could have spared your parents, brother and cousins, I gladly would have done that. I'm not a monster…" His head dropped again.

"Are you saying that I am?" Selene angrily asked, her voracious self still looking for fault everywhere but with herself.

Amy took a step closer. "He's not saying that at all. He's saying that this evil, twisted plan perverted you to the point where you're not who he thought you were. You are a good person who was ruined by evil. But you can let go of all of it." She stepped nearer, putting her hand on Selene's shoulder. "Take it from me, I'm married, I know how these fights work. You have to be able to forgive. You have to let go of the hatred. If you don't want to lose him, and he you, you have to forgive," she pleaded.

The three Doctors looked on. Selene's hand reached out for Endymion. Unexpectedly, her hand rested on his shoulder. He stood and clutched her still outstretched hand. He took a moment and gazed deeply into her eyes. Tears streamed from Selene's face as she realized what a fool she'd been. Sobbing quite loudly, she fell into her love and clasped onto him. "I'm so sorry I made you do all that," she said amidst her tears. "I should have never asked you to do such horrible things." She cocked her head outward, toward the ginger who gave her life. "And I'm so sorry Amy," she struggled to say. She left Endymion and reached toward the companion, pulling her into a hug

Amy embraced back and smiled. "It's okay," she told her as she fought off her own tears.

Selene broke free of the woman who gave her life. She looked off to the distance, to three figures without which the whole thing wouldn't have been possible. "And the Doctors! I'm so, so sorry I used you all." She went and embraced them all in turn; first Nine, then Ten and finally Eleven. She pulled away and looked at Eleven's goofy ears and swoopy haircut that she remembered from childhood. "But you most of all. I betrayed your trust; I betrayed all of you for my own end. And I'm so sorry."

The Eleventh Doctor smiled, seeing more of Serenity in older Selene than he thought possible. He took her hand and met her eye. "Hey, you did it. You fought the monsters; you fought the scariest monsters of all. The ones inside you and you won. You're you again. And that makes me… it makes all of us very happy," he told her. He wrapped her up once more in a giant embrace. Ten and Nine looked on, knowing that their successor had nailed their exact sentiments.

She pulled away, seeing him beaming happiness through his old eyes. "Those eyes. Those amazing eyes…" she said. "Can you forgive me?"

The Doctor smiled wider. "I already have."

Selene had finally lived up to her namesake; she was at peace. She stepped away and went back to her love. Her gaze wandered around the ruined castle restored by the power that Endymion had taken from the other Titans. "But what now? I'm a queen without a kingdom. What meaning is there in this life if I have no kingdom?" she asked.

"You still have each other," the Ninth Doctor reminded. "And you're both healthy and alive. Both good things," he told them, recalling barely escaping the Time War.

The Tenth Doctor stepped forward. "And maybe, just maybe," he said, "Maybe they stuck you on the Moon to give you a chance at happiness. Maybe they wanted you to fall in love with a man from Earth and live with him and be happy. Maybe your parents knew their time was running out and in their infinite wisdom saw how this would play out. They'd help their little girl fall in love, and learn to fight the monsters inside herself." He smiled in soft reflection. "I know all about time running out."

"The Ood?" Selene asked, remembering how he acted on Nova Atar when she was a teenager. He nodded. "I wouldn't worry about that. Yes it's scary, but you're the Doctor. Monsters are what you do."

Ten had a chuckle. "I suppose it is," he conceded. He looked to the Eleventh Doctor. "Besides… my future is in good hands."

Eleven smiled, catching his predecessor's approval. Eleven turned back to Selene. "But what should you do now indeed?" he asked, looking at the new couple with huge real estate holdings in a different plane of existence. "I have an idea. Do you fancy one more trip in the TARDIS?" he asked.

She curiously raised an eyebrow. "Where would you take me?"

He grinned stupidly. "Well, I know this little village in the Cotswolds. Northleach it's called. It's a nice place; mechanical music museum, good school, decent pub with good chips, great decor and plenty of Elvis tunes in the jukebox…" He took a step to the old Police Box and opened the door. "What do you say?"

Selene looked at the wondrous old Box; at the most magical shade of blue and the golden tones emanating from the doors. She took Endymion's hand and looked at him. "How about it? A normal life on earth? Just you and I?" she asked.

Endymion looked at the TARDIS, wondering how an old blue box travelled in space and time. He then looked at his beloved Selene. His heart skipped a beat as he drank in her lovely radiance; radiance he'd not seen since a thousand years ago. He smiled softly. "Why not? We've got one life together. That's enough, right?"

Happily, the couple made for the old Box. "Wait!" Amy called out. "There's one more thing you have to do, and it's a pretty big one." She intercepted the couple before they could go inside. "You two also need to forgive each other for what happened here; for the memory of her parents and family." A master of couple's negotiations, Amy knew they could leave no issue unresolved.

"Amy's right," Selene spoke, looking up at Endymion's handsome face and wonderful deep brown eyes. In their joy; in the rapture of being together again, they'd overlooked the fact that essentially, they were both murderers. Granted, they were both extremely remorseful murderers, but murderers nonetheless. Selene became sad, but, for the first time in centuries, not angry. Where before those two emotions were inexorably tied together, they now acted separately; Selene was indeed better. "If I were stronger… if we both were, perhaps we could give them their lives back. But the seed I gave you to put in Amy was a onetime only event, never to be repeated. And bringing Amy here was very taxing; we're both far too weak… so now my family is gone."

Endymion held his love in his arms and looked out at the Doctors and Amy. "We can't go to Earth," he spoke, knowing only one thing lay ahead for them. Selene nodded in agreement from his grasp. "There's really only one course you and I can take," he said.

Selene knew exactly what he meant. She broke free of Endymion and turned toward the time travelers. A flash of blue surrounded her, calling forth what little power she had remaining. Her body transformed into small Serenity again. "Doctor," she said in her childlike voice, "It's time for you to go." She stepped away from Endymion and stopped halfway between her love and the TARDIS.

Eleven knelt down next to her. "Serenity, what are you doing?" he asked, thinking he might know what she was doing. But he hoped that he was wrong.

She reached out and gave him the mightiest hug her small arms could muster. "The last time I disappeared like this, it was out of dishonesty. Not again; never again. This time, it's out of love," she told him. Eleven leaned away from her, looking at her once more. "Get back in the TARDIS. I'm going to send you all home. I've got barely enough energy left to swing the Mandala back the opposite direction. That has to be done from this side of the trans-spatial dimensional portal. And once that's done…"

His theory was correct. "Once it's done, your existence will end," the Doctor spoke, looking very seriously at the girl. He shook his head, disagreeing. "No Serenity, there has to be some other way. There has to be some way for you to come with us…"

"There isn't," she assured him. Never again, in memory or real life would she ever see his swoopy haircut, tweed jacket or bowtie.

She broke away and left him, moving off to the Ninth Doctor. Like Eleven had done, Nine crouched down to put himself on Serenity's level. "You I envy the most," she explained. "You're embarking on the most magical journey; off to do the most wonderful things. You get to be both of them," she told him, raising a hand at Ten and Eleven. "Life is all new for you. The most brilliant and scary things are still ahead of you. You'll see the end of worlds and the birth of whole new races; lost enemies and new friends… take care, Doctor." She leaned forward and wrapped him in a tight embrace.

She broke away and moved over to the Tenth Doctor. He too knelt. "And you, you magnificent old man, so near his end. The most taxing chapter of your life is still ahead of you. But you can handle it, better than anyone else can, because you're the Doctor. What awaits you is so magnificent and daunting, but I have full confidence in you. You, of all the Doctors past and present, only you can do what awaits you." She then wrapped him in a hug. "Remember me; think of me once on your farewell tour," she whispered. Ten looked at her curious, not sure what she meant by 'farewell tour.'

She then broke and returned to the Doctor she knew best. Tears formed in the corners of the Time Lord's eye. "Now Doctor, there's no reason to be frightened or sad. I've had enough sadness over the past millennium, and I don't want anymore. Endymion and I will be happy together for whatever time we have left and when it's over, we'll still be together." Tears formed in her eyes and she sobbed quietly a few times. "Now, you're going to take Amy, and go and find a nice loving home for Geoff. She can take my place by your side for my one last trip in the TARDIS."

"I did promise you I'd find somewhere for Geoff, didn't I?" he asked, trying not to focus on what was happening. "Serenity, I don't want to leave you," he admitted.

Her small hand brushed his swoopy hair from his face. "I know you don't. You haven't wanted to leave anyone; not since the very beginning. How you can handle the heartbreak… you're so amazing, Doctor... each one of you. I think your friend the Brigadier said it best; 'Splendid chaps, all of them'."

Eleven smiled. "How do you know about the Brigadier?" he asked, smiling and teary at the same time.

She cocked her head to one side, "I've been watching you for a long time; since Sutekh and your long, long scarf and poufy hair. Then I started watching you from the beginning; I had to see what adventures I had missed. All the way up until right now. This moment of time was in flux; I could have ended you or spared you. This moment in time was not decided until this very moment. And I'm happy I made the right choice. You made me better."

He looked at her once more. "You did that all on your own," he told her. Once more, they tied up in an embrace. "Goodbye," he whispered.

He stood and stepped away from the tiny Titan queen. He tightened his bowtie and then looked at his old selves. "Well, chaps, back to the TARDIS, eh? You've got to go investigate some Nestene signals," he said, pointing at Nine, "And you've got to go to the Planet of the Ood," he added for Ten. Eleven started back to the box, with Ten and Nine following. He slowly turned back as they piled into the old box and looked one last time at Serenity, hopeful he'd remember her forever. He then disappeared into the box.

Amy started a slow meander toward the Box. She turned back, watching as the young girl disappeared and turned into the elder Selene again. Endymion joined her side, taking her hand. "Amy, watch after him," Selene instructed. "He's always needed his friends; it didn't matter if it was Sarah Jane or Jo or Rose or I or you; he always needs someone."

From behind Amy, a loud clonk filled the air. The wind blew about, making speech impossible. "I will," she mouthed as the TARDIS started to dematerialize. Not wanting to be left behind, Amy jumped into the old Police Box as it disappeared, shutting the doors behind her.

Endymion and Selene watched silently as the old and magnificent blue box faded and disappeared completely. A tear formed in the queen's eye as that perfect shade of blue disappeared for the last time. "Thank you," she spoke. Her hand joined with Endymion and whatever remained of their power from before was used to press the Mandala open again, back toward Earth. She looked at her lover, happy that they were together finally, after so many millennia of being apart. She fell into him, their lips meeting for one last time.

Then… silence.


	15. Chapter 15

Selene's Final Journey Chapter 14

All was normal inside the TARDIS. Nine, Ten, Eleven and Amy had made a clean escape back though the Mandala node from the Titanic plane and into normal space. The ride was reasonably smooth for once, having three Doctors working the controls. "I really don't like this layout," Ten remarked, noting that all the bits and buttons were in the wrong spots. He looked up to Eleven. "But this double level layout, that's brilliant," he added.

"She picked this one out all on her own," Eleven spoke. "I wonder how this all works?" he asked. "I reckon that since we're now back in normal space, I'll have to smash our TARDISes into each other to deposit you where you belong."

Nine and Ten began to fade from the Eleventh Doctor's sight, and he from theirs. "Or Selene will do it for us," Nine theorized. He looked at his fellow Doctors one last time, his whole life and amazing new adventures ahead of him. "Well, it's been fun. No, it's been better than that. It's been fantastic," he added. The Ninth Doctor disappeared from the Console.

Ten looked down at his hands becoming transparent over the controls. "Blimey, I guess I'm up. Next stop, Planet of the Ood. Well, maybe after Hawaii or a Gary Moore concert or something." He cracked a smile at his newest self. "Allons-y," he said, as he departed by disappearing.

The TARDIS found itself emptier, just Eleven and Amy occupying the control room. "Well, Amelia, it's just us. Like so many times before, just us," the Doctor told his companion, "And we've got one final trip to make."

She watched as he jammed away at the typewriter and set the date and destination. "Where we going to now?" she asked.

He threw off the handbrake and started the TARDIS in motion. "I made a promise that I intend to keep," he told her. With the old Box bucking around, he grasped a notepad on the console. With his red pen, he scratched out a message. "Well, it's a bit sloppy, but legible," he told her.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked.

"Here, hold this," the Time Lord told her, motioning for her to take the throttle of his old capsule. He descended from the console and went to the interior doors leading to the depths of the TARDIS. "Geoff! Here puss, puss, puss," he spoke. Coming as called, Geoff the cat emerged from the depths of the TARDIS. He meowed, happy to see the Doctor again. The Time Lord produced a straight pin from his pocket and pinned the note to the cat's collar. "Now Geoff, I promised Serenity I'd find you a good home with someone to love and take care of you. Now, I expect you'll do the same for the person I've chosen. Like I so often do, he needs a friend; someone to bring out the best in himself. The boy's name is Sebastian. Take care of him and he'll take care of you," the Doctor advised.

Geoff meowed in acknowledgement. He licked the Doctor once, in appreciation for the Time Lord's love and support in his time on the TARDIS. The Doctor departed and went back to the Console.

"Who's Sebastian?" Amy asked, not knowing exactly what was going on.

"He's a little boy in Ohio who needs a friend. I promised Serenity I'd find Geoff a good home, and Sebastian is it," he explained.

"But how did you know about him?" she asked.

The Doctor stepped back. The Time Rotor stopped and there bucking had ceased. "This box finds those who are scared and alone, like I was so long ago when I took her, or she took me, whatever. And just like it delivered me to Serenity; scared and alone…" He thought about her for a moment, but then turned back to Amy. "Anyway, I let the TARDIS take me to him." He left her for a moment and went to the doors, opening them up. "Goodbye Geoff," he spoke. The cat stuck its head out the door, wiggled a bit, then followed with the rest of his body.

"This one was for her; for Serenity," the Doctor spoke, looking at the small boy in the second floor of the house jumping up and coming downstairs. Amy joined him at the door.

"Well, you might have lost Geoff, and Serenity, but you'll always have me," she told him. "Best we're gone by the time the boy gets down here," she advised. Like so often, his companion, friend and confidant was right.

The Doctor sprung back to the Time Rotor. He smiled, glad she was with him. He fiddled with the knobs on the console, setting course of Amy's home in Leadworth. The Time Rotor groaned away and the ride became bumpy once more. Thirty years ahead of Sebastian's item and just across the ocean was no big deal; they'd arrived in no time flat. "Walk me to the door?" Amy asked, moving to exit the old Box. "You know, we'll have to tell Rory all about what happened; the three of you, another plane of existence, Serenity and the best moral conflict I've seen since the redemption of Darth Vader… c'mon, we've got a nice bottle of Pinot chilled…"

"No, I think I should be going," the Doctor told her.

"Now, I too made a promise to Serenity. I promised her I'd look after you; to make sure always had someone. And I'm going to. So c'mon, wine and story time await." She left, knowing that he'd be right behind her.

The Doctor set the handbrake, and then looked up at the Time Rotor appreciatively. "Thank you," he told the old Box, rubbing his hand on the console as he remembered this latest, greatest adventure, his past selves, Amy and wee Serenity. And for crashing into Amy's shed. And landing outside of Henrik's department store where he met Rose. And bringing huon particle saturated Donna into his life in the midst of her wedding. And delivering him to the Royal Hope Hospital where he met Martha. "You wonderful, sexy thing…" he told it.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted, growing impatient at her own front door.

He grinned and looked out the old Box. "She'll always wait for me, won't she?" The Cloister Bell rang once, as if the old magic Box understood him. He hopped down from the console and exited.

The TARDIS, all of her own accord, shut the door behind him; he'd been delivered where he needed to be.


End file.
